Expanded Universe
by Leonard Church814
Summary: The Universe is as expansive as it is dangerous. And in the 26th century with mankind capable of space travel, the realization of different species far more advanced than ours becomes a threat. With the Covenant at bay, older more technological races have come into the fold. But as the lines between family and enemy blur, Leo Q. Church must decide his fate in the universe himself.
1. Reintroductions

Expanded Universe

Before humanity stepped foot out of their caves, the earth was home to many different life forms ones such as the dinosaurs.

But they were not the only ones to lay claim to the planet. Gems, a life form derived from rock and crystals. Some whose names are similar in shape and color to some in our own world.

These Gems, though intelligent and capable of interstellar travel was like any other civilization, they had their own opinions. As the earth was occupied so were the thoughts of every Gem. One side protested for the end of the harvest and occupation of earth, to leave it in peace and move on. Others disagreed and further wanted to continue their path and progress their advanced technology.

A civil war broke out amongst the two factions, and so the stars were bathed in death and destruction. Gem after Gem gave their lives for their cause but in the end, both sides were left shattered and separated. No one could access earth anymore.

With Earth successfully saved from the harvest, only four of the hundreds of thousands of Gems remained on Earth. They were Garnet. Amethyst, Pearl, and Rose Quartz. They were the Crystal Gems and vowed to protect Earth from any other Gem occupation or otherworldly threat.

It was in the summer of 2534 that Rose Quartz met a very particular human.

...16 years later...

"Come on Pearl, we're gonna miss it!"

"Hold on Leo! I'm organizing this mess Amethyst left."Pearl said as she threw away a box of macaroni and cheese.

"Aw cmon Pearl, you know you wanna live dirty, hahaha ha,"Amethyst told her.

"I do not!"Pearl replied.

"Worry about the trash later Pearl, get over here,"Garnet told her.

"Alright, I'm coming."Pearl sat next to Leo(nard) as he sat with excitement.

"It's starting!"He said.

The T.V. was showing the a special event. So special it only happens once every decade. It was the science equivalent to the Nobel Peace prize. The upcoming award was for the most progress in technology and research.

The runner ups were Dr. Catherine Halsey, Dr. Leonard Church, Dr. Daniel Endesha, and Prof. Ellen Anders. All were exceptionally good at their job but only one of them had to be the best.

"Ladies and gentleman, the night has come to an end, but not before our last award has been given out. This award is for the scientist who'll give their life for their work, who'll challenge any obstacles to reach their goal, and tonight we have many."The audience clapped.

"Our candidates; Dr. Daniel Endesha, the research and development of Superintendents, a hopeful design to maintain city control and it's populace. Prof. Ellen Anders, for the research of biology, anthropology, psychology, and theoretical

xeno-biopsychology. Dr. Catherine Halsey, the creation of the MJOLNIR armor system and A.I. advancements. And finally, Dr. Leonard Church, head of A.I. research and development, xenobiology, and creator of the first artificial fragment A.I.'s."The list of achievements made by all these scientists was longer, but that'd take a while to explain.

"These four have shown excellence in their field and continue to make differences in society and military. The award goes to...Dr. Leonard Church for the study of A.I. and A.I. theory."

"YES! Go, dad! Woohoo!"Leo clapped.

"Congratulations,"Pearl said.

"Yeaaaah! Go woo! Wait...what's A.I. again?"Amethyst asked.

"Artificial Intelligence, computers basically,"Garnet said.

"Oh...can they do math?"She asked.

"They can calculate how long a human can live and you're gonna ask it about math?"Pearl asked.

"Duh, no. Who has time for that?"

"Quiet you two,"Garnet said.

The T.V. showed Dr. Church take the stage."Thank you, thank you. I would like to thank Dr. Halsey, she deserves this prize just as much as I do, and to the other scientists; Thank you for your work."Everyone clapped.

"It's been rough getting here, enduring through the weeks of work and study. I would like to thank my son, thank you, Leo, you were a tremendous help in this. And my daughter Carolina, thank you for picking me up at one in the morning."People laughed.

Dr. Church continued his speech."Once again, thank you all for this award, but life is more than just a trophy, it is for the good of mankind and the further progression of its life. May we all achieve our own places in history, good night."He nodded and walked off stage, as the T.V. went black.

The phone rang and Pearl was the first to reach it.

"Hello, Church household. Oh. Leo, it's for you."Pearl handed him the phone.

"Hello?"

"Congrats Church, Dad won."The voice across the line was, of course, a woman's voice a very familiar one as well.

"Oh, hey Cortana. Yeah, it's nice to see dad smiling again. Going back into the field was a good choice."

"Y'know, if we really showed off the works of our parents, I'm sure my mom would have won."

"Cortana this line isn't very secure, we should probably not talk about it."

"I'm just saying. Well, I only wanted to give a quick call. I'm actually pretty busy right now. I'll message you in a week. Bye Leo."

"Gotcha."

"She doing alright?"Garnet asked.

"Yeah, she just called to congratulate Dad. She also busy."

Garnet looked at the clock on the wall and back at the others."Time to go."She said.

"Already? I hardly even noticed."Pearl said.

"Another scouting run?"Leo asked.

"Yeah Leo, we'll be back for dinner. Wait the me will ya, save some for me!"Amethyst said before being transported by the Warp Pad.

Leo sat in the living room...by himself...alone."Welp, guess I'm alone...wonder what Tucker's doing?"He got up and so he walked out.

At the Banquet

Dr. Church had just finished shaking hands with another fellow scientist. He kept his smile up, shoulders high, and laugh full of life. That was the last thing he wanted, he wanted out of this suit and really wanted out of this place.

"Congrats Leonard."He turned to see an old friend, Catherine Halsey.

"Ah, Catherine. It's been a while."He said.

"Almost eight years I believe. So, how's Leo?"She asked.

"Good, good. The Gems are taking good care of him."He responded.

"And the Gems themselves?"She sipped some of her wine.

"Are they ever different?"He gave a question back.

"Good point. Well, I didn't come here for congratulations alone, I wanted to see how you are holding up."

"I'm doing fine, getting back in the field instead of behind a desk was probably my best choice yet. In fact, Leo and I have been collecting Moa DNA samples to compare with the Ostrich, see how much they compare."

"Interesting, any developments?"

"No, we're still waiting on the Moa DNA. Even if they're on Reach its hard to order items from other planets these days."His face seemed to age another 20 years.

"Do not worry Leonard, I believe things can go our way."

"Yes."He said.

"You know, Parangosky still pushes for research on the Gems,"Halsey said.

"Still? Haven't I made it clear enough? She's not laying a finger on the sand of that beach."Leonard said.

"I understand, I may not completely agree but I wouldn't want that bitch touching Cortana either."Halsey spat (not literally).

"Glad you see my side. Besides, they already told us everything she asked. I dread the day she reaches the head of O.N.I., and we both know she will."

Halsey sighed, "Yes well it's been nice talking with you Leonard."

"You as well."They shook hands and departed.

Beach City, Delaware, United American Continent

Church walked out of the house. Usually, whenever the Gems were on a mission he'd go hang out with some of his buddies. Their hangout? It was none other than The Big Donut. The donut shop usually never held anyone (other than Leonard and his friends) for more than 20 minutes. In fact, hardly anyone comes by; it was strange how the establishment still remained open. Anyway, from the temple, Leo made his way towards The Big Donut. As he entered he could already see his group of friends in their usual spot.

Unlike most friendships, this one was pretty toxic. A good kind of toxic, though. The group had been separated into two groups. Red team; which consisted of Samuel R. Gauge or Sarge for short, Sarge came from the Deep South. Like Alabama south, his father was a sergeant in the U.N.S.C. and he paraded that around like a medal of honor. Next to him was Dick Simmons or just Simmons. The guy was pretty smart, but unlike Sarge, the guy was a big coward. He'd run away at the sign of a fight if he didn't believe almost everything Sarge said. Right with Simmons was his long time 'friend' Dexter Grif. Grif could be explained in one word, lazy. The dude would sleep anywhere if he wanted to, and more importantly he'd EAT almost every junk food ever created by man. He was also fat, that's basically it. In the spirit of the Donut, next is Franklin Donut, just call him Donut, though. When it came to Donut, the guy was….off to say the least. No one could really tell if all those stories and phrases he said he actually meant. He likes a lot of girly stuff too. Like diaries, yoga, and well….it gets to weird. Moving on we have actually two of the saner red team members. First was Ruby Rose, the girl was the youngest in the group. She loved guns, like if guns were a gender, she'd marry them. She was also pretty quirky due to her young age and kept watch by her older sister. That older sister was, in fact, the last person in the red team. Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's step-sister. She's a party girl. There, that sentence entirely describes Yang. But in her defense, she is a very loving older sister to Ruby.

Now onto my team, blue team. Of course there Leo, son of Leonard L. Church and Rose Quartz, currently 16 he's has some interesting ties. With his father in O.N.I. Leo has his fair share of training by his older step-sisters Carolina and Cortana. Of course O.N.I. training wasn't the least of his abilities, thanks to his mother. As the first and only child from a Human Gemchurian relationship, Leo has yet to reach his potential. But under the guidance of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl he is sure to make it. Under him in blue team is Lavernius Tucker. The guy is all about women, willing to hook up with anything that looks pretty with two legs. Despite Tuckers other hobbies, he's actually quite gifted in swordplay (not the dirty kind) and probably one of the only people that can and is still learning how to speak Sanghelli. Leo disapproves. The newer of the original trio, Caboose is pretty damn stupid. Like a special kind of stupid. Caboose proclaims himself as Leo's best friend despite the constant amount of time Leo has told him to shut the hell up. Next up to bat was Weiss Schnee, she was rich…very rich. Her father is a major supporter in most (if not all) O.N.I. project. Weiss met Leo during one of her father's expeditions to O.N.I. headquarters up in Washington. She's pretty snobby but can be kind hearted. Her sister, Winter, is an O.N.I. agent. Beside Weiss is Blake. Blake is the most levelheaded, cynical, and quiet of the entire group. Most don't know, unlike Leo and Weiss, but Blake was a former Insurrectionist lieutenant. Taken under by Dr. Church, Blake has started over with a new leaf. This was Leo's friends, the closest ones he'd ever have.

 **OFFICE OF NAVEL INTELLIGENCE FILES**

 **D. SIMMONS**

 **DOB: 4/02/2533**

 **POB: Inner Colony Chi Rho**

 **Age: 17**

 **Hair Color: Dirt Red**

 **Eye Color: Crimson**

 **Height: 6'00"**

 **Weight: 203lbs/92 kg**

 **Next of kin: Mother: Marry Simmons Father: Richard Simmons**

 **S. Gauge**

 **DOB: 11/09/2532**

 **POB: Wetumpka, Alabama, United American Continents/Earth**

 **Age: 18**

 **Hair: Jet Black**

 **Eye Color: Brown**

 **Height: 6'04"**

 **Weight: 240lbs/108 kg**

 **Next of kin: Father: Sgt. Lopez R. Gauge Mother: Holly Gauge**

 **F. Donut**

 **DOB: 2/21/2534**

 **POB: Inner Colony Beta Gabriel**

 **Age: 16**

 **Hair: Blonde**

 **Eye Color: Blue**

 **Height: 5'10"**

 **Weight: 188lbs/85 kg**

 **Next of kin: Mother: Mia Donut Sister: Eve Donut**

 **D. Grif**

 **DOB: 6/25/253**

 **POB: Inner Colony Chi Rho**

 **Age: 17**

 **Hair: Brown**

 **Eye Color: Brown**

 **Height: 5'08"**

 **Weight 274lbs/124 kg**

 **Next of kin: Father: Undetermined Mother: Gabby Grif Sister: Kaikaina Grif**

 **Ruby Rose**

 **DOB:5/22/2535**

 **POB: Inner Colony Reach**

 **Age: 15**

 **Hair Color: Black. Red highlights**

 **Eye Color: Silver**

 **Height: 5'02"**

 **Weight:192 lbs/87 kg**

 **Next of kin: Father: Taiyang Xiao Long Mother: Summer Rose Step-Sister: Yang Xiao Long Step-Uncle: Qrow Branwen Step-Mother: Raven Branwen**

 **Yang Xiao Long**

 **DOB: 2/01/2533**

 **POB: Inner Colony Reach**

 **Age: 17**

 **Hair Color: Blonde**

 **Eye Color: Lilac**

 **Height: 5'08"**

 **Weight:252 lbs/ 114 kg**

 **Next of kin: Mother: Raven Branwen Father: Taiyang Xiao Long Step-Sister: Ruby Rose Uncle: Qrow Branwen Step-Mother: Summer Rose**

 **L. Church**

 **DOB: 1/18/2534**

 **POB: Austin, Texas, United American Continents**

 **Age: 16**

 **Hair Color: Jet Black**

 **Eye Color: Pink**

 **Height: 5'10"**

 **Weight: 260 lbs/ 117 kg**

 **Next of kin: Mother: Rose Quartz (incapacitated) Father: Leonard Church Step-Sisters: Carolina Church, Cortana Halsey Godmothers: Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl**

 **L. Tucker**

 **DOB: 3/28/2534**

 **POB: Inner Colony Tantalus**

 **Age: 16**

 **Hair Color: Jet Black**

 **Eye Color: Cyan**

 **Height: 5'09"**

 **Weight: 242 lbs/ 1099 kg**

 **Next of kin: Mother: Janus Tucker Father: Jahmar Tucker**

 **M. Caboose**

 **DOB: 12/15/2535**

 **POB: Inner Colony Jovian Moons**

 **Age: 15**

 **Hair Color: Blonde**

 **Eye Color: Blue**

 **Height: 5'11"**

 **Weight: 220 lbs/99 kg**

 **Next of kin: Mother: Cathy Caboose Father: Jon Caboose**

 **W. Schnee**

 **DOB: 6/31/2533**

 **POB: Inner Colony Reach**

 **Age: 17**

 **Hair Color: White**

 **Eye Color; Ice Blue**

 **Height: 5'09"**

 **Weight: 180 lbs/ 81 kg**

 **Next of kin: Mother: Kalt Schnee Father: Eis Schnee Sister: Winter Schnee**

 **B. Belladonna**

 **DOB:10/04/2533**

 **POB: Inner Colony Reach**

 **Age: 17**

 **Hair Color: Jet Black**

 **Eye Color: Yellow**

 **Height: 6'04"**

 **Weight: 201 lbs/91 kg**

 **Next of kin: None**


	2. Gem Weapon

**Okay so, wow, Super Watermelon Island and Gem Drill….final-fucking-ly am I right? All those leaks and it finally comes out, two good episodes. Anyway that's not why I'm here. So I wanted to try something out. So I want to set the mood to a scene, y'know, atmosphere. So think of this like the Expanded Universe Soundtrack. I'm pulling together a bunch of songs and scores from all around and whenever you see (#) in bold that means to select the playlist number. I'm making it right now. I'll put a link to it maybe at the end of this chapter so it may take more time to upload it so I can put it all together. Fair warning, it's probably gonna use a LOT of the RWBY soundtrack. Cuz, it's awesome. Now that I think about it, I might have to make multiple playlists, one for each episode. SPEAKING about episodes, don't expect every episode on here. Episodes like Frybo and Tiger Millionaire will be replaced with W.B.C.'s or World Building Chapters. THOSE chapters will basically be getting to know the Expanded Universe…..universe. I'm thinking more on the line of RWBY's World of Remnant videos so expect that. And that's about it; I'll post this as soon as it's done.**

 _ **Expanded Universe**_

"So little rock star finally decides to visit the plebeians."Simmons said.

"Yeah well, the king has to mingle with his populace every once in a while, right?"Leo sat on his side of the booth.

Out before him were his friends, he couldn't have been any happier.

"So how recording been?"Blake asked.

"Swell, lemme tell you, those producers are like hawks. And assholes, super assholes."Leo explained.

"Well it's good to have you back, it hasn't been the same."Ruby smiled.

"It's good to have the bestest friend back!"Caboose practically shouted.

"Ow, man, a little warning next time? Anyway, it's good to see you back Church."Tucker waved.

"Aw man, I think I'm getting some feelings."

"Don't act like you do."Weiss said.

"Tell us all about it, did you go to any parties, meet any girls, had any good wine? Specifics!"Yang pleaded.

"Nothing like that I'll assure you. Let's put it behind, that thing really burnt me out."

"So how are the Gems doing?"Weiss asked.

"They just went on a mission, some…5 minutes ago. Decided to come and meet you guys here to pass the time."

"Well, I hope they come by some time. Pearl is really cool."I turned and there came Sadie.

"Oh, hey Sadie, totally forgot about you guys."Leo waved to Lars behind the counter.

"No deal, so you want anything? Soda? Donut?"She asked.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Alright, if you want anything just hit me up, I'll be in the back stacking boxes. See ya."She went to the back.

"So, tell us everything."Yang said.

"Alright alright."So Leo explained everything.

 **HOURS LATER**

"And now we come to now."Leo ended.

"Dude, that sucked."Grif said.

"Yeah, I was thinking more explosions and death."Sarge hoped.

"Yeah well some things aren't that exciting."Leo told them.

 _Brrrrrr brrrrrrrrrrrrr_

Leo felt his pants buzz, he looked at the notification…..dad was back.

"Ah jeez, alright well I'mma head out guys. I'll see all of you next time."

"Alright Leo, see ya."They waved him goodbye.

So Leo left The Big Donut, and for 10 minutes he walked to the outside of Beach City, even passed the mayors house. There he reached the two story house that was home to his father, Leonard L. Church. Leo went up to the doors and entered. His father lied on the couch, exhausted.

"The presses finally get you?"Leo asked.

"If the press were the reason why I'm lying here practically running on 2 hours of sleep even Carolina wouldn't have been born."He remarked.

"I guess so."He walked up to the couch and made room for himself. He picked up the remote and turned it to whatever caught the twos eyes.

"So you see Halsey?"Leo asked.

"Indeed, she is doing well too. We spoke for a few minutes after the ceremonies, it was pleasant."

"That's good to hear. You ask how John is doing."Leo asked.

"You know I can't ask that in public."Leonard told him.

"A boy can dream can't he?"Leo asked.

"That boy can, but when that boy breaches O.N.I. level 9 intelligence-"Leonard groaned as he sat up.

"-that boy is in more trouble than being grounded."He pulled Leo in for a hug and rustled his hair.

"Hey stop!"

"Alright. Well, even though I never asked, I do receive some fairly marked out mission reports from Halsey about Blue Team. They seem to be doing well also. You don't have to worry about them, they have each other."Leonard pointed his eyes toward the television.

"I suppose. But you can never trust the Covenant to _not_ make some sporadic change in the way they fight. You can never trust them."Leo said.

"The Covenant is far from us, there is no reason to worry about them. Now, I believe you said you'd treat me to some ice cream if I won."Leonard reminded him.

"*sigh* Alright, lemme break out the milk and ice."Leo got up and went to the kitchen.

 _ **EPISODE 1-Gem Weapon**_

The sun was shining like always, the clouds were non-existent, and the sand was as smooth as a feather. This was the luxury of living in a vacation town, everything was nice. It was especially nice when you have an entire area of the beach to yourself. Leo very much took advantage of it, which is the reason why he's sitting in those pool chairs that are just like straps keeping you up. Anyway, there was Leo, sipping on some juice mix.

"So, what'cha up to Leo?" He turned to see it was Amethyst.

She sat beside him on the sand; Leo turned his head back toward the beach."Oh, you know, enjoying myself."He took another sip of his juice mix.

"If you're trying to get a tan, keeping your shirt on isn't gonna help."She swiped the juice mix from him and downed the whole thing.

"I know, I just like lying right here, it's a nice day out."

"Um, it's always a nice day out."Amethyst reminded him.

"Exactly. We have to take full advantage of these days."He put his arms behind his head.

"Why?"She asked.

"For no reason other than it feels good."He said.

"Well if it feels good, how about we visit the Fryman and ask for those nice tots he always gives you?"

Leo looked back at the sky, it did look like it was becoming the afternoon already, so it was only logical to get up from his comfortable position and hang out with Amethyst.

"Alright, give me a minute to get some shoes on."Leo left inside for some shoes and came out to a waiting Amethyst.

"Took you long enough."She said.

"I was in there for a minute."Leo said.

"No need for specifics, c'mon let's get some tots."Amethyst pulled him toward the residential area of Beach City.

The sky was getting pretty red now, 'Man it got to the afternoon pretty quick.' Leo thought. As they pulled the corner to the Frymans fryshop they saw the owner at the counter. The sign said 'Sorry We're Close.'

"Yo Fryman, how ya doin'?"Leo asked.

"Leo, we're closed."

"Fryman, I'm hurt. I'm you're most returned customer; don't say I'm not because I am. You wouldn't let one of your best customers go hungry would you?"Leo asked.

"Alright alright, lemme cook them up."He admitted defeat.

It took 2 minutes to make the tots. Fryman knew how Leo and Amethyst liked their tots, nice golden-brown, and crunchy.

"Here you guys go, just like you like them."He handed them the bag of tots.

"Thanks Fryman, you're the best."He grabbed the bag of tots and gave him the money for it.

"See you later Leo."Fryman waved.

So Amethyst and Leo walked along the street sharing the bag of tots. The sun was almost gone, the sky was red, and they were on their way home. Today was a very productive day for Leo.

"Man, the sky is really red."Leo commented on it again.

"Yeah it is."Amethyst shoved another tot in her mouth when Leo stopped.

"Hey, uh, Amethyst, mistake if I'm wrong-I haven't taken astrology that much-but I don't remember having two suns."Leo said.

"What are you-AH!"Amethyst turned to the sky and saw the problem.

It was big, red, and round. She didn't know exactly what it was but it was coming straight towards Beach City.

"We gotta get Garnet and Pearl."Amethyst tugged at Leo, and they ran.

There on top of the hill was Garnet and Pearl looking at the red orb through a telescope.

"Guys, are you seeing that!?"Amethyst pointed toward the sky.

"Yes, Amethyst, we're aware of the big Red Eye in the sky."Pearl said.

"What's a Red Eye?"Leo asked.

"Something very, very bad."Garnet said.

"So, what are you guys going to do?"Leo asked.

"The only thing capable of cracking it is Rose's Light Canon."

"Mom had a canon?"Leo questioned.

"Oh, yes she did!"Pearl remembered.

"Well….where is it?"Leo asked.

"That's the bad part, we don't know."Pearl said.

"That is bad. Well we got a bunch of other stuff. We can probably ask O.N.I. to send us some stuff. Maybe a SPNKR, or a Rocket Hog, OH OH I KNOW, a Spartan Laser….oooooohhh I'm dying to see one in action."Leo suggested.

"No offenses Leo but, the U.N.S.C.'s weapons aren't strong enough to destroy the Red Eye."Amethyst said.

"We'll have to resort to other ways."Garnet motioned for Amethyst, she jumped towards Garnet who grabbed her and chucked her towards the Red Eye. She promptly hit it and fell into the ocean.

"I'm gonna go look for it."Leo said.

"Okay, we'll be here."Pearl said.

Leo's immediate thought was to find his dad. Surely he'd know where to find it. So Leo ran to the outskirts of Beach City to find his father's house. The place looked empty from the outside but Leo knew better. He entered and went to the far back room. It was a large closet space, in plain sight that is.

"F.I.L.L.S. past code, Alpha Fragment."He said.

"Greeting Alpha, the Director is currently below in the lab. Would you like me to alert him?"F.I.L.L.S. asked.

"Yes, please do."Leo said.

Leo quickly ran down the stairs to the (former) Directors lab. Once down he saw him and the others.

"-lts are steadily increasing, Director. Nothing unexpected."A female voice said.

"Good, good. Delta how are the specimens?"The Director asked.

"Healthy."The monotone voice of the green fragment updated him.

"Director, the Alpha is here."

Leonard turned toward the entrance to his lab to see Leo.

"Leo, what are you doing here? I thought you were with the Gems?"Leonard asked.

"Dad it's important. Hi guys."Leo waved toward the other fragments.

"Leo, it is so good to see you."It was Sigma, her voice was the first to sound before the others.

"Thanks Cin', anyway, Dad I need your help."

"My help, what for?"He asked.

"Just come on."Leo waved over to him.

"Alright, hold everything Delta, I'll be back."

"Understood Director."

"Be safe."Theta advised.

With Leonard in tow, Leo brought his father upstairs to the actual house.

"Alright, what is it you need help with? Is it magic, because they told me not to interfere?"Leonard said.

"Dad, I need to know where moms Light Canon is."

"Rose's light canon? Why would you need that thing?"Leonard asked.

"Have you seen outside?"Leo pointed to the window.

"What are you-oooh I see what you mean."Leonard looked outside.

"Where is it?"Leo asked.

"It's in storage."Leonard brought him to his garage.

Said garage was filled with a multitude of scientific instruments. "F.I.L.L.S., I need the other garage."Leonard said.

"Yes Director."The garage moved in a circular lowered and switched to his storage.

The storage was filled with tons of stuff. On the halls hung Type-25 Plasma Pistols, Type-25 Directed Energy Rifles, some type-1 Plasma Grenades, Brute shots, all matters of alien technology. But in the back was what he wanted….Rose Quartz's Laser Light Canon.

"There it is."Leonard pointed.

"Cool, now I need to get this to the Gems."Leo said.

"It looks heavy."Leonard said.

"I bet so…..do you have a forklift?"Leo asked.

"What scientist would I be if I didn't prepare for heavy objects? F.I.L.L.S. I'm gonna need the forklift."

In the back of the house, the forklift started up and drove up front. A pallet was already on the actual 'lift'.

"You do know how to drive this…right?"Leo asked.

"Of course I do, now come and help me put this on the forklift."The both of them grabbed each side and planted it on the forklift.

"Alright, let's drive this sucker to the Gems."Leo said.

It took 7 minutes to get that 'sucker' across the small town. The weight combined with the low speed of a forklift made it a sluggish journey. But they made it to the beach before Beach City was crushed so it wasn't that bad.

"Hey guys, I found it!"Leo said.

"Holy stars, he did."Pearl said.

"Come on, let's fire this bad boy."Leo pulled the canon into position.

"Sooooooo…how do you fire it?"Leo asked.

"Rose usually had a key phrase to fire it. It was just 'Open Fire'."Garnet said.

"Alright Light Canon, open fire!"Leo said.

The light canon did nothing.

"It's not working. Maybe I have to put my hands on it."He put both of his hands on it.

"Alright, open fire!"Still nothing.

"Did Rose change the phrase?"Pearl asked.

"Okay so now we have to say a bunch of stuff until we find the right one? We won't-"

"HAST A LA VIST BABY!"Nothing.

"Uuuugh, Vaya con dios !"Same result.

"Think of something!"Pearl told the others.

Leonard stood there thinking, he had an idea.

"Hey Leo, what about this?"He whispered it to him.

"*sigh* Might as well try."He said.

"Never say goodbye, I hate goodbyes!"Leo said quickly.

The canon started to expand, and it also got heavier.

"Oh come on!"Leo complained.

"He's gonna need some help."Garnet said.

Together, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Leonard held up the canon to aim at the Red Eye. At full blossom it fired a large beam. When it came into contact with the Red Eye it abruptly exploded, scattering chunks across much of Beach City.

"Congratulations Leo, you saved _most_ of Beach City!"Amethyst smiled.

Fryman stood in the chaos that was his restaurants sign; a lot of the deck was also smashed.

"Sorry!"Leo yelled.

"It's okay!"Fryman yelled back.

"Well, that went well." Pearl said.

"We destroyed the Red Eye and no one died, that's good enough."Garnet said.

"I'm still mad, a key phrase?! That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! Especially one like that! You don't charge into battle yelling 'Never say goodbye, I hate goodbyes!' that's just terrible! Hasta la vist baby, vaya con dios, Buenos dias cockbites, SOMETHING coulda been better than that!"Leo ranted.

Leonard sighed, even after some physical death thing she still managed to pull at his heart string. He smiled.


	3. The (Former) Director-WBC

**-CLASSIFIED O.N.I. FILES LEVEL 9 ACCESS ONLY-**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **-ACCESS GRANTED-**

 **FILES:**

 **FORMER DIRECTOR AND FRAGMENT PROJECTS**

 **GEMCHURIAN RACE**

 **-Pearl**

 **-Garnet**

 **-Amethyst**

 **SPARTAN PROGRAM**

 **LEO ALPHA CHURCH QUARTZ**

 **CAROLINA CHURCH**

 **ON DUTY A.I.**

 **COVENANT**

 **-Weapons**

 **-Species**

 **-Leaders**

 **PRECURSORS**

 **ADVANCED AGILITY SUIT BLUEPRINT**

 **U.N.S.C. OPERATING BASES**

 **ACCESSING FILE: FORMER DIRECTOR AND FRAGMENTS PROJECT**

 **Leonard L. Church**

 **DOB: 4/12/2491**

 **POB: Austin, Texas, United American Continent, Earth**

 **Age: 59**

 **Hair Color: (Formerly) Black, (Currently) Black/Grey**

 **Eye Color: Green**

 **Height: 6'09"**

 **Weight: 275 lbs/124 kg**

 **Next of kin: Children: Leo A. Church, Carolina P. Church, Cortana F. Halsey**

 **History:** **Leonard** **Church was born to a wealthy family. Because of his families status he was able to acquire the very best schools and colleges, with an incredible IQ, Leonard was very ambitious striving for nothing but greatness. After receiving his degree at the age of 20 Leonard had taken an opportunity to join the U.N.S.C. There he tried to become a marine, he failed. But there was one saving grace to his troubles. Her name was Allison. During his time in boot camp, the two fondly grew closer and closer. Later becoming married, their child was named Carolina, after the state she was born in. Only 10 years into their marriage, Allison Church was stationed at Corbulo Military Academy. Unfortunately, Corbulo was attacked and many of its attendee's were killed. Among the casualties was Allison who heroically sacrificed herself for the life of Thomas Lasky.**

 **With the news, Leonard entered a state of depression just as he was accepted into the Office of Naval Intelligence. At his new position he met the talented Dr. Catherine Halsey. Months into their partnership and a night of wine Cortana was conceived. Months later Leonard created a new A.I. theory. His plan: to split a single mind and divide it into separate entities based on the original. According to A.I. law, this was illegal, that didn't stop him though. With permission by the O.N.I. director at the time, Leonard Church began testing. That testing culminated into the final process; he used his own mind as the origin point. He twisted and tortured his own mind to receive the fruits of his labor. Known as the fragments, they were A.I.'s based off the emotions of Leonard himself. The fragments were: Delta-Logic, Epsilon-Memory, Theta-Trust, Eta-Love, Iota-Fear, Gamma-Deceit, Omega-Rage, and Sigma-Ambition. This was a stepping stone on his path to director of O.N.I. With many successful projects under his name, Leonard Church was promoted to head of O.N.I., for a certain time.**

 **As head of O.N.I. the Director was more prone to paper work than actual science. So the Director took it upon himself to get back into the field. So he picked up on a theory that had gone unheard. Earth was a very strange place. Mysterious creatures popped out of nowhere, strange relics were discovered, all of these culminated to the theory that something was here before us. Leonard followed this theory, he scoured the world. But it was in the snowy mountains of the Himalayans that he treaded upon his last clue. In the mountains he heard yelling, shouting, roaring. He followed it, and only briefly saw a beam of light that could have pierced the heavens. He found signs of a struggle, a big one. But what interested him the most was a perfect cut pad made of some sort of crystal, and lying right beside it was a flyer to vote for the next mayor of Beach City. He followed this lead all the way to Delmarva, back in America. There he met Rose Quartz and years later Leonard Alpha Church II was born. However, after a falling out with the other high ranking O.N.I. members, Leonard Church stepped down as Director of O.N.I. the rest is history.**

 **FRAGMENTS** **:**

 **Delta**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: 'D'**

 **Basis: Logic**

 **Equipment: Healing Unit**

 **Bio: Delta is the more focused of the other fragments. Delta isn't necessarily the smartest of the A.I. but he's pretty close. When given an order, Delta is solely driven towards the end of that order. He's willing to do whatever it takes to achieve favorable outcomes.**

 **Theta**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: JD**

 **Basis: Trust**

 **Equipment: Bubble Shield**

 **Bio: Theta is youngest _minded_ of the fragments. Taking the personality of a child, Theta requires trust between the operator and himself to achieve the best results. Theta is the nicest of his brothers and sisters. Given time if a bond is strong enough, Theta would sacrifice himself for his friends and family.**

 **Epsilon**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: Asshole**

 **Basis: Memory**

 **Equipment: Speed**

 **Bio: The relationship between the Alpha and Epsilon isn't favorable. Alpha blames the Epsilon unit for Carolina's departure due to his encouragement. As a unit Epsilon is possibly the oldest of the other fragments. He is solely in the company of Carolina and is only in seen during her presence.**

 **Eta**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: Love Doctor**

 **Basis: Love**

 **Equipment: Shadow**

 **Bio: Eta and her twin aren't the most sociable of the fragments, usually keeping to themselves. This is because in the life of Leonard Church, love and loss are two intertwined feelings, one always being followed by the other. Even with her less than sociable personality, Eta gives the Alpha the best advice when it comes to being human.**

 **Iota**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: Depressed**

 **Basis: Loss**

 **Equipment: Electrical Magnetic Pulse**

 **Bio: Iota is usually found following or being followed by his twin sister Eta. Iota doesn't bring much to the technical side of the fragments, but what he lacks in combat he makes up in advice. Dealing with both his Gemchurian and Human halves isn't easy for Alpha, so it is the duty of Iota to give sound advice about embracing his Gemchurian qualities.**

 **Gamma**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: Garry**

 **Basis: Deceit**

 **Equipment: Forethought**

 **Bio: Gamma isn't the most helpful of the fragments, usually hindering more than helping. But he is the most unique, he has a knack for making up knock knock jokes. As his equipment states, he has forethought. This is somewhat similar to Garnets future vision; however he pulls thoughts from the users future self and brings them to the current time period rather than predict it.**

 **Omega**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: O'Mally**

 **Basis: Rage**

 **Equipment: Camouflage/Increased Strength**

 **Bio: Omega is without a doubt the strongest of the A.I., his camo and increased strength makes him a monster at CQC and stealth missions. Although with all this comes the negative side effect of wanting to rule/destroy everything in existence. This need for conquering all is also coupled with a need to shout and detail every single thing he'd do to his opponent.**

 **Sigma**

 **Nickname given by Alpha: Cinder**

 **Basis: Ambition**

 **Equipment: Fire Crystals**

 **Bio: Sigma is in fact the smartest of all the A.I. and the most cunning. She is dangerous on her own because she strives for nothing but perfect, just like the Director once did. Sigma is the most sociable of the A.I. learning more every second. She is also around Alpha the most, sometimes even more than the Director himself. Being around Alpha gains her the go to fragment for battle strategy and how to deal with the enemy, making her Alpha's most trusted fragment. In short, never trust Sigma….something Alpha has yet to understand. It just might get him killed.**


	4. Trial by Tower

Expanded Universe

Episode 2-Trial by Tower

It was a bright and sunny day out for Leo and the rest of Beach City, but it wasn't the day Leo was excited about….it was what entailed. Garnet-after hours of pleading and Pearl saying no-decided it was finally time to let him join them on a mission. For Leo, this was like a rite of passage for him, if he proved how good he was during a mission; the Gems would have no other choice but to bring him along more often. So he decided to get ready and getting ready meant getting supplies for the mission, so he did just that. With some equipment from O.N.I. themselves and some stuff he bought online he knew he could do it. But he couldn't do it without this last package, this one took the longest….and also cost the most.

"Ah, hurry up Jamie."Leo complained.

Just as he said it, Jamie came around the corner with a bag full of envelopes and packages. How the guy could hold all of those in that small bag was a miracle.

"Finally, you take a long time to get here."Leo hopped up from his sitting spot.

"Well you do leave the farthest from the postal office, and there are other people who _also_ want their mail."Jamie said.

"Yeah well mine is the most important."Leo said as he took the signing the scanner.

"Alright well, that does it here. See ya later Leo."Jamie waved goodbye as he gave Leo the package.

Behind him in the house was lit up and the sound of the warp pad rang. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were back. He ran up with his package to see somewhat of a mess. The three Gems were covered with feathers, Pearl had an odd looking relic, and Amethyst was trying to stuff an egg the size of her into the fridge. She eventually did, after throwing out everything else in there to do it though. I walked up to Pearl, who looked very disapprovingly at Amethyst.

"We fought a giant bird."She explained.

"Oh, okay."Leo wondered what kind of bird would lay an egg that huge.

"What's in the box Leo?"Garnet asked.

"Oh, Garnet, I'm glad you asked."Leo started with a smile.

Leo pulled apart the box and showed off what he oh so has been waiting for. It was a big, but not just any bag. It was made to order by a private arms manufacturer in New Mombasa. The bag held pockets for combat knives, ammo clips ranging from the MA5B to the mobile Chain gun. It also was very mobile and flexible only needing one shoulder to rest on. It was a sling bag for a Spartan (if people could license items to Spartans).

"That looks…nice?"Pearl said.

"It's not meant for style Pearl, it's meant for our mission remember?"Leo said.

"Not this again."Pearl said.

"Hey, you said yes. So I did what was normal, I ordered a bunch of stuff from online and got ammo from O.N.I. to back me up. I've even had O.N.I. bring me a standard issue magnum. That way I can be effective offensively."

"You bought a gun?!"Pearl said.

"No I took a gun. Big difference there and it's not like I haven't been trained. Caroline and Cortana have done their best to train me and I exceeded. I just need to learn how to use a SPNKR and I'm good to go."Leo said.

"He has been waiting for 16 years Pearl."Garnet said.

"Yeah, and it'd be educational~!"Amethyst said.

"I suppose it is around time we ease you into joining us on missions. And it isn't as dangerous as our other patrols."Pearl went over it through her head.

"So, what's the mission?"Leo asked.

"Alright, we have to go to the Lunar Sea Spire and place this statue on it before midnight. Otherwise it would collapse, while that isn't necessarily a bad thing it was an amazing place, an oasis for gems on earth. You can hold onto the statue."

"Cool, let me get a few more supplies and we can go."Leo said.

We went to the closet underneath his stairs. Inside was a lot of ammo and supplies. He picked up magnum rounds and a grappling rope just in case, spires usually meant high places so he decided for it. Sea usually meant water; a raft was also a good idea. He placed the statue within one of the sling bag pockets and headed for the warp pad. Pearl activated the warp pad leaving Leo weightless. He always like using the warp pad, he got to do whatever he wanted to do in 0-Gravity without being off the planet.

"Do you remember how to do this?"Pearl asked.

"Sorta."Leo laughed as he did a back flip, for style of course.

Suddenly he felt gravity pull him to the ground as he landed on his feet, it was a little disorienting but he's learned to handle it.

"Whoa, that's the Sea Spire?"Leo asked.

Indeed it was, and it was falling apart. A chunk from the outside fell into the surrounding water; it looks in need of urgent repair too.

"It wasn't like this a hundred years ago."Pearl looked in distraught.

"I'm sensing structural instability."Garnet said.

"That's sounds no bueno."Leo said.

He looked down as he heard some cracking; the part of the edge he was on was cracking. He stepped aside as it fell into the ocean beneath him. It was a long fall down.

"Well, that is pretty broken. How about we fix this thing before it topples over us?"Leo said.

They followed the path to the highest point where the tip just barely made it to the tower.

"Stop."Garnet commanded.

"What, we can jump that no problem!"Amethyst said.

"The magic holding this place up has a strong gravity well that will pull down anything not in the spire or on ground."For example she picked up the nearest boulder and tossed it. It stopped halfway into the arc and fell down into the whirlpool below.

"I might have an idea."Leo said.

He pulled out the grappling rope and started twirling it around in a circle. He let it go at the right enough angle to where it hooked onto one of the creviced above the arched windows.

"Here goes nothing."He stepped backwards a few paces.

"Leo wait!"Pearl said just as he started to run and jump off the cliff.

Leo unfortunately didn't know how hard the gravity well was…it was a lot. But he held on and pulled himself up. He was a little out of breath but he was able to stand on his own.

"Way to go Leo!"Amethyst yelled across the gap.

With that trick in mind she used her whip to do the same, all while holding the other two. For a gem like Amethyst, it wasn't that hard to do those things. Leo wondered how much they could carry if they were able to pick each other up like a feather.

"Good job Leo."Garnet said as she rustled his hair.

"Never do that again."Pearl said.

"It worked didn't it?"Leo said as he reeled in his rope.

"I will admit that was pretty great."Pearl gave him a small hug.

As they ventured forth Pearl couldn't help but comment on every little thing that was out of place. Luckily for her, they weren't little. Whole walls were filled with water, sculptures were nothing but rocks, and debris was scattered everywhere.

"Once we get that statue to the top this place will go back to it former-ah!"The sculpture Pearl was admiring had peculiar wildlife on it, so she cut off the upper torso making it fall into the sea.

"Guys we might have a problem!"Amethyst said.

Pearl and Leo joined back up with the other two at the top of the stairs to see more of those slug looking creatures.

"What are those?"Leo said in disgust.

"Those are crystal shrimp, and by the looks of that's an infestation, and the only way up is through there."Pearl said.

"Well, that a big inconvenience."Leo said.

"Alright, here's how we're going to do this. Amethyst if you go around over here and distract them with a spin attack, and Garnet if you go to the ceiling and-"Pearl planned.

"Pearl, Pearl…I got this."Leo told her and fished inside of his sling bag. He pulled out what appeared to be a blue and orange ball that was until Pearl got a closer look.

"Is that a grenade!?"Pearl asked.

"Yeah, this is the Type-1 plasma grenade, courtesy of the Covenant themselves. I took some when I went to dads a while ago. Since these are plasma they won't have as bad as an effect on the walls and floors. It'll just evaporate everything near it."Leo got into position.

Leo's thumb activated the priming sequence as he chucked it at the largest group of shrimp. The grenade flew into the air with a bright blue color and stuck to one of the shrimp. Because of its hissing and bright nature, it attracted more than a few other shrimp…right before it blew up. The explosion evaporated about 70% of the shrimp there leaving an adequate enough pass through.

"Good work."Garnet said.

"Nice throw."Amethyst said.

"I've been practicing with baseballs."Leo said.

"I just want everyone to know, my plan would have also worked."Pearl said.

Advancing up the stairs was easy enough; it gave Leo sometime to look around his scenery. This place did _feel_ familiar. He chalked it up to his bodies past host. Rose Quartz must have come by here at least once during her stay on Earth. Certain spots erupted small echoes in his mind, something he's learn to accept. These echoes usually came from Roses life; they were always a snippet of a larger conversation. Some felt serious, some felt joyful, all of them left him with an eagerness to remember them.

"Watch out!"Garnet said.

Another few seconds passed and a wall to their left exploded and let a current of water pass through. Leo was surprised; he counted at least 5 seconds before that wall crumbled. He had no answer for that either, the Gems always had mysterious ways how to keep him in safety.

"So, how are we going to get across?"All eyes turned towards Leo.

"Why are you guys looking at me?"Leo asked.

"Your last two attempts have gone by flawlessly; show us what you've got Leo."Pearl said.

"Alright, lemme think."Leo looked at the situation before him.

His O.N.I. training prepared him for these kinds of scenarios, but it usually included the risk of getting killed. He looked around the environment and checked off his internal list of possibilities, honestly if Delta was here he'd be able to spot out 20 different ways to get across with the supplies on hand. Leo thought about using the raft, but at the acceleration of the current….it didn't look good. That pillar though….

"Garnet, see that pillar there…knock it down."He point to the one to their left.

Garnet looked at it and nodded, she knocked out it's based and punched it hard enough so that it would fall on its side while making them a bridge.

"Good job."Garnet said with a smile.

"Yeah dude, you're on fire!"Amethyst said.

"Bravo Leo."Pearl said.

The rest of the walk up was rather quiet, no shrimp and no other obstacles, just a long climb up. The roof of the spire was barren except for a pedestal to place the statue on.

"There it is, the moon goddess pedestal, and look, the moon is just over head. We have enough time to save this piece of history!"Pearl said.

"Leo, the statue."Garnet said.

I nodded and took off my bag to look for it. Feeling around was kinda difficult when there was a bunch of ammo in it.

"Leo."Pearl said with a little inkling of worry.

"Don't worry I got it."I said as I finally pulled out the statue.

"Oh good, I was getting worried for a second there."Pearl said.

I zipped up the bag and grabbed the statue with both hand, it felt really smooth and had a bit of weight to it. I walked to the pedestal and placed it there, for a second it did nothing….that was before it shot a beam of light up into the sky. The statue started to float and I guess it went through some sort of identification because it started shaking a lot and was finally set back down on the pedestal. The tower below us started to look better….if a tower can look better. It just felt like it wasn't going to fall apart.

"Good job Leo. You saved the Sea Spire."Pearl said.

"I just put a statue on the pedestal, no need for congratulations."Leo said.

"Well than, we'll congratulate you on your ingenious ways to get through the tower. Good job."Garnet said.

"Aw shucks, thanks. Now let's get outta here, I'm starving."Leo said as they all left for the warp pad.


	5. Bottom of the Sea

**So…..Same Old World…fucking…..awesome. Finally we get Lapis' backstory and how she got in the mirror! And all the call backs to when Steven and Lapis actually spent time together! Can't wait for next week we can see Lapis and Peridot go at it. Time why must you slug along the endless horizon?! Anyway I'm making this; the soundtrack for this chapter will finally come! SO to get you familiar with how I'm gonna do things, again, I will put a number with parenthesis' on both sides like so (#). That will indicate which song to play on the playlist. They probably won't be in order so don't go through the entire thing without checking this page. Anyway, enjoy.**

 **Play (1)**

Expanded Universe

Episode 3-Bottom of the Sea

When it came to visitors coming to Beach City, Leo made doubly sure that they steered clear of the temple. He didn't like the thought of them getting hurt during one of their battles; actually it was mostly because the O.N.I. directors had warned him to keep Human-Gem interaction to as little as possible. Of course 'little' for Leo meant that the whole town knew of the Gems, they were allowed to be let on. But enough of that, he had the entire beach to himself once again. He decided to only way to enjoy it was to practice the new song he wrote, he almost forgot to put in some time since he was testing some of his more Gemchurian abilities, like shape-shifting. Besides that, he sat down and pulled out his guitar. **(2)**

"Rage in us  
Your thirst I'm taking  
Pull the plug I'll keep on shaking  
And thrustin' about your apartment  
Drowned on the blankets floral and fading  
Painful lust, two aching guts  
They tear through each other in the mirror  
This happy vacation, there's no motivation  
To hold me up-"

He imagined the drums and bass, they were supposed to be playing more than he did. He enjoyed the openness, Amethyst didn't bother him with to make some breakfast for the both of them, Pearl wasn't calling from the other side of the temple doors to 'keep it down', and Garnet…well Garnet didn't really complain with his music but he knew that she didn't really like his genre.

"Just wanna be alone and watch  
Why can't we be alone and watch?"

He finished off with a strum of the strings. He heard some shuffling to his right; he turned as he spotted a girl. She wore a white and green spring dress with some funky looking boots. Her skin tone suggested eastern European descent, maybe Indian. She had big round glasses with a pink hue too, her hair (blackish-brown) reached down to her mid back, and her eyes were hazel.

 **(3 1:06)**

"Um…hi."Leo waved.

"Oh….oh I'm so sorry I didn't mean to spy on you!"She said.

"It's no problem; I didn't expect anyone to be over here. The social part of the beach is thataway."Leo pointed the opposite direction.

"Oh no, I didn't come for the beach. I came to read, and this is usually where I sit."She said.

"My bad, I never thought someone would come to a beach and not….Y'know….swim."Leo said as he picked up his guitar.

"That's ironic, coming from someone who came to the beach to sing."

"Well, not really, I live here. My house is just around the corner."I said.

"You like _on_ the beach?"She asked.

"Yeah, beach front property is pretty cool. It sucks whenever a storm comes through though, it always rains fairly much."Leo said.

"I bet. I'm sorry I didn't get to know your name."She said.

"Oh, it's Leo. Leo A. Church. My friends sometimes call me church, and Pearl calls me Leonard whenever I freak her out."I stuck my hand out.

"Well, Leo, my name is Connie…Connie Pujaarin."She shook my hands.

"Well, nice to meet you Connie."

"Should you really be out here alone, those tremors feel pretty hard."Connie said.

"Don't worry; I'm well equipped to care for myself."

"So, do you live here with anyone?"Connie asked.

"Oh yeah, I live with my…..my….."Leo tried to find a work for it.

"Something wrong?"She asked.

"What do you call people that aren't related to you but care for you?"

"Step-family?"

"No, that sounds too foreign. Some people that knew you before you were born, people who are very close to you."

"Godparents?"She questioned.

"I guess."The ground trembled a little bit.

He heard cracking so he looked up. The cliff side of the mountain was tearing apart as a boulder fell.

"Oh no."Leo said.

"Ah!"Connie yelled as she saw boulder fall.

"I got this."Leo said as he threw out his hands.

Before the boulder fell on them they were surrounded by a pink bubble. From what Leo understood, this was one of his moms' abilities, as well as the shield he was able to produce. He had to thank Cortana and Carolina again when he sees them again.

"What?"Connie looked in amazement.

"Yeah, I can do that."Leo said.

"But…how?"Connie asked.

"I'm half magic…on my mom's side. She's an alien."I said.

"How's that even possible?"She asked.

"Well it-AH!"The bubble violently shook as he and Connie were thrown to the ground.

A bigger boulder fell and pushed them hard. They went spiraling towards to ocean; he couldn't see the sky for more than a second before the bubble knocked him down. Soon they were being pushed around by the waves.

 **(4 0:30)**

Finally the moving stopped, he got his baring and looked around, they were pretty far out into the water. From the looks of it, the surface was probably 20 feet up. He could make it, but Connie however-

"You okay?"Leo asked.

"I'm fine, nothing broken."

"That's good."Leo said.

"Yeah, where are we?"Connie asked.

"Somewhere in the ocean I think. Maybe even past the suggested swimming depth."Leo said.

"I can't swim."Connie said.

"Well there goes swimming. Guess we'll have to push our way back."Leo started pushing the side of the bubble; thankfully it complied and moved across the bottom of the sea.

"So, rough day huh?"Leo tried to make small talk.

"I never expected being at the bottom of the sea today….or tomorrow….or ever."She said.

"Yeah well…I expected to fall to it sometime."Leo said.

"Why's that?"

"Because my missions usually lead me to exotic places."

"Missions?"She asked.

"Yeah… y'know, I was told to never talk about it."

"If it gets you in trouble you don't have to say it."She said.

"I'm sure being at the bottom of the sea is good enough privacy. Can you keep a secret?"Leo lead her on, she shook her head.

"Alright well, I'm a part of a group of crystalline based aliens that protect earth from monsters."

"Whoa….really?"She asked.

"Really really."Leo said.

"That sounds super cool."Connie said.

"I mean….it's alright. We don't get paid really. O.N.I. just funds us."

"O.N.I.? You mean the Office of Naval Intelligence O.N.I.?"She said with increased intrigue.

"Yep, I have ties with them, and my father was the former director. So I get plenty of favors from the staff."Leo said.

"Man, your life must be great."Connie said.

"Not really, besides the frequent near-death experiences, and some other stuff I can't really say much."

"But you get to fight evil creatures, defend your home, and get to do it with your friends, like the heroes from my books."She said.

"If only, trust me, fighting those things are tough and drain the hell outta you."Leo said.

"Would you trade it in?"She asked.

"Why would I trade in the only life I've known?"Leo smiled.

The rest of the walk was pretty quiet, Connie would sometimes 'ooh' or 'aah' whenever she saw something that looked neat. But it wasn't until after 30 something minutes that something big appeared, it was a huge worm like creature. At the front end of the body was its head, the head had a singular hole and around it were finger-like tentacle. Leo took a closer look at it, it was a Gem Monster alright.

"What is that thing?!"Connie asked.

"That is one of those monsters I talked about, never seen one that ate kelp though."Leo told her.

"Is it going to eat us?"

"Not really, unless it decides we look tasty, we're good."

The monster turned towards them and roared.

"I should learn to shut my mouth sometimes."Leo said.

The monster rushed towards them, luckily the bubble kept its shape as Leo and Connie were pushed upwards. The force was big enough to push them the rest of the way towards the beach.

"We're on land!"Connie said.

"Good, now I can put this away."The bubble around them evaporated.

"But what about that!?"

 **(5)**

The Gem monster came running at them….er-rather it came slithering at them. Either way they made a break for it.

"Leo, up the rocks!"Connie yelled.

Leo however ran under the docks, he had an idea. He picked up a decently sized rock and chucked it towards the Gem monster, gaining its attention.

"Hey Wormy, over here!"Leo yelled.

The Worm did just that and rushed towards him instead of Connie. Now the Leo just needed to out run it…..great.

'I'm gonna kill myself this way. 'He thought.

So he started running the first pole came up and he made a sharp left turn, easily avoiding the Worms lunge. He did this multiple times as me made countless laps around the docks supports. He checked the supports, all of them held a part of the Worm. So with the Worm tangled in the dock he ran to where Connie stood, and slid under the last part of the Worm blocking his way.

"Is this going to work?"Connie asked, deducing his plan.

"I give it an 80% chance."

"What about that other 20?"She asked.

"Well it was nice knowing ya."He said.

Lady luck was on their side that day as the Worm strained to make it to them, all of its body parts were entangled with the docks support beams. With each tug of the Worm the dock weakened even more and more and more.

"Bye bye Wormy, it was awful knowing you."Leo said.

The dock collapsed on itself, and the Gem monster itself blew up into smoke making the sand around it scatter in the wind.

"Leo!"He turned around to see Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

"What's going on over here? What did you do?"Pearl asked worryingly.

"He was incredible!"Connie shouted.

"Oh thank you, I'm known for my brilliance."Leo faked a blush.

"So, you gonna introduce us to your new friend Leo?"Amethyst asked.

"Oh yeah, guys, this is Connie. Connie, this is Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. These are my care-takers, and most importantly my team; The Crystal Gems."Leo said.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Connie; I hope Leo didn't put you through too much trouble."Pearl said.

"No, it was super cool."She said.

"Come on you two, let's leave him be."Garnet came in and snatched up Amethyst and Pearl.

"They seem nice."Connie said.

"Yeah, they're pretty awesome."

Silence filled up the air between them.

"So…..whatcha up to now?"Leo asked.

 **(Play 6 6:19)**

Leo entered his room. He looked at his desk; behind it lie what he was looking for. He pulled it out; it was a laptop, once on it he pulled up a file that read 'CORRUPTED'. Within it were countless photos and documents all about other corrupted Gems.

"A new one?"It was Sigma.

"A worm-like creature, it was in the ocean outside of Beach City."Leo said.

"Interesting, I'll use your watch's camera to analyze the creature. What have you done with the Gem stone?"She asked.

"I've stowed it away in a bubble. It's in safe keeping."Leo looked to his closet.

"And you're sure the Gems won't notice?"Sigma questioned.

"No, they have hundreds of Gems in there, I bet Garnet can't even remember how many there are."Leo said.

"This is the first Gem we've been able to acquire without them noticing, I don't want this to go to waste."Sigma said.

"The project is working out smoothly, it'll need time still."Leo said.

"Good, when it is ready, so will we."Sigma said.

Leo scowled.

"We will get our revenge, do not worry. The Covenant won't be able to hurt us anymore when it is ready."Sigma assured him.

"I hope so, because if it doesn't get done.…this will be a shorter war."Leo said looking at reports from the outer colonies.

PARIS IV LOST TO GLASSING

ARCADIA LOST TO GLASSING

COVENANT INCREASING TERRITORY

EDEN PRIME LOST TO GLASSING

COVENANT INCREASES FIRE POWER

The list went on and on.

"Project Metastability will be their downfall Alpha; we will finally end this war."

"I know….I know."He pulled up another file that read METASTABILITY

The documents within it showed a blueprint. The blueprint was a MJOLNIR armor suit, with a SPARTAN II E.V.A. helmet, SCOUT chest piece, and SECURITY variant shoulder pads. This is what he needed, this what he wanted. When this was done…..all of the Covenant will die before him.

 **Link to playlist will be on my profile page**


	6. Psychiatric Evaluations-WBC

**So I hope you guys are enjoying these chapters and the soundtrack I'm making along with it. Sorry if that last one came out a bit late compared to the others, anyway here is the next chapter. So I WAS gonna do Serious Steven but I've decided not to as that whole episode was to set up that Steven was somewhat capable at Gem work. But I don't really need to do that since I've already established that. Mainly the only reason I wanted to do it was because I was gonna title it Parabola of Mystery (ah, good ol' RvB season 1). Instead, I'm doing this quick W.B.C. and heading straight to work on the next ACTUAL episode. No soundtrack for this one, listen at your own leisure.**

Expanded Universe

"Do you have the report for me?"A voice asked.

"Yes, I've compiled everything we need. He might not look like it, but he's pretty unstable."Another voice said.

"That is what I'm afraid of, he's an unknown. We have to keep an eye on all our pieces."

"Of course, I'll send it your way."The other voice said.

"Good, I'll leave you then."The voice left leaving the room.

The figure accessed their computer and opened a particular file.

-PSYCH EVALUATION OF LEONARD ALPHA CHURCH—

Leonard A. Church, better known as Leo Church, is the son of the late Rose Quartz and Leonard L. Church. As O.N.I. have requested I have spent months with Leo and learned many things about him. Leo has a very deep seeded hatred towards the Covenant, he despises them; this could be a culmination of events or just the single accident which occurred several years ago. I am not sure which it is but this hate has led him to learn how to take down Sangheili to Mgalekgolo. Even with his own extraterrestrial origins, Leo has become what some might call Xenophobic which stems from his hate.

However, this hate can prove to be an asset as it makes Leo a more determined soldier on the battlefield. While his combat skill is great, it will not be good enough to fight the Covenant. He has requested more than several times now that he'd be willing to adhere to any of our demands for access to a SPARTAN-II MJOLNIR armor system. However as not only family but advisor I have cut off these demands, he isn't ready.

Although his determination is brave he is also cruel and sometimes reckless with his emotions. Whenever put through a hostage situation, there is a 42.987% chance that Leo would let his emotions take over. Sometimes it is at the loss of the hostages life…sometimes his own. During CQC, he'd knock out his opponent and continue to punch at the downed opponent. We've had 10 ODST soldiers go to the medics because of him. Regardless of his skill, it is also important to evaluate his good side. His affiliation with his father is as comfortable as can be. Leonard and his son have bonded well enough with science and smaller hobbies. Leo may not be as scientifically adept as his father but he does have an above average intelligence. With Leonard comes the fragments, you never see them without him. Leo has relatively good relationships with all of them except the Epsilon unit, which can be accredited to one of our best agents. Speaking of her, Carolina Church and Leo have had a very rocky relationship. I believe Leo would like to learn more about his step-sister, as they have only spoken a few and far in between. When he asked about seeing her the only answer I could give him was that she was busy. I doubt that would work now.

The most important influences on Leo life are the Gemchurians: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. If ever I make a passing comment about them Leo could go on a tangent about them. It is especially notable to state my opinion on the matter of the Crystal Gems. However the controversy may be, we are forever in debt to them, whatever Parangosky may believe. Anyway, Leo seems to take inspiration from the Crystal Gems, he mocks their fighting style very much. When referring to a sword, Leo incorporates many of Pearls fighting stances. However, that is quickly brushed aside by his own style, which can be called more akin to freestyle. When dealing with CQC he shows the same aggression to the new leader of the Gems, Garnet. His stoic face and movement are mostly due to his biased perception of hand-to-hand combat when watching Garnet. It was more than necessary to break him out of the habit of fighting with only little defensive stances. Amethyst is a special one however, she uses whips. I believe Leo has taken this to heart as he has manufactured a whip-like device which he has stuck on his back. He called is Combat Whip LSHR or just Lasher. Amethysts' fighting style isn't that much seen within his Lasher fighting style so it is assumed that the idea for it merely came from Amethyst.

Lasher is a torso mounted machinery with long coiled metal that acts flexible, durable, and very penetrable. The length of the lasher is almost 120 meters in length. He's shown to be very versatile with the laser. Scaling walls and small buildings with it, he was even able to swing with it. However, it is still in testing as the coil is prone to snapping.

As for now, that is all that I have obtained from Leo. My conclusion: Leo should stay clear from any missions that include any Covenant forces or anything that would compromise the mission. He has yet to learn how to control that anger and it might make him do something he wouldn't naturally do. I expect this to be heard by the Director of O.N.I. and the board.

Respectfully submitted by

Cortana Halsey


	7. Animal Friend

**OKAY so after doing a bunch of referencing I've decide to create a kinda height measure for Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. I know they really don't have height length but for visualization sakes imagine a 5'10" person that is Leo. Now for Amethyst we'll put her around 5 foot-5 foot 4, just so she can be at shoulder height for Leo. Now for Pearl we'll put her around 6 feet to 6 feet 5 inches, that way Leo isn't AS tall as Pearl, but pretty close. Now for Garnet we'll imagine her as the average ceiling room height. Basically look up and that should usually be around 8 feet tall. However if you can't visualize it just think of the Sanghelli. They average from 7'04" to 8'06", so roughly Garnet is as tall as an Elite. That was just food for reference, anyway back to the story.**

Expanded Universe

Somewhere in the Sahara Desert, North Africa

"Jesus H. almighty, can it get any hotter?"Leo wiped his forehead of sweat.

"Is that a rhetorical question?"A small purple light shined on my shoulder.

"I believe so Theta, answering Alpha's question may lead to more distraught."Delta appeared next to him.

"Did you have to bring them along?"Amethyst asked.

"No, but seeing as how dad lent them to me I'm going to use them."

"It can get up to 136 degrees Fahrenheit."O'Mally said.

"You're killing me guys."

"We did not mean to cause bodily harm Alpha."D said.

"That was a phrase 'D'."Leo said.

"Ah, I understand."He left back into the storage unit with the others.

"So, remind me what we're here for again?"

"There is a corrupted Gem here that is creating sand structures without order."

"It's building columns with no roof, stairs that lead nowhere, its madness."

"Wait, I thought columns are just pillars."Leo said.

"N-"

"Not important."Garnet said.

Out of nowhere a roar trembled through the sand, even knocking over a sand pillar…column-whatever.

"What was that?"Leo asked.

"I think it'd be best if you'd stay here Leo."Pearl said.

"Oh come on, you guys just gonna ditch me?"Leo said as the three headed off.

"Yeah!"Amethyst replied.

"That was rhetorical!"Leo yelled back at her.

So Leo was left alone, in the desert….sweating like a proverbial hog. He looked around the landscape that roared made him suspicious of its originator. Nothing gave Leo the feeling that it was the object that roared. The Sahara was practically empty of life; except that ominous shadow crouching behind a pillar/column.

"Wait!"Leo did a double take and looked back at the shadow approaching him.

Leo went for a grab to his magnum, fortune didn't favor him as by the time he pulled it out, the suspect was already in his face.

"Agh!"He yelled as he fell backwards.

Leo pulled himself backwards as the shadow moved towards him more and more. Once again things didn't turn out the way he wanted because the desert decided to go tell him to get boned because a giant wall of sand erupted behind him.

"Shit!"He yelled.

He pulled up his magnum again and finally got a good look at his pursuer. It was large, it walked on all fours, it had massive head and a tail. Its eye glowed and had a big snout. Finally the shadow covering it evaporated, Leo got a really good look at it. It was-

"-a massive pink lion?"Leo asked himself.

The lion stood there, looking at him for another second before it yawned and fell on itself. It appeared to be resting.

"Out of all my years, I have never seen a lion that was pink. That is fucking awesome."Leo said getting together his bearings.

With caution Leo stood back up, aiming his magnum towards the lion. As he got closer, so did his worry, this thing could eat him whole if it wanted to. The lion brought its head up to Leo; it seemed obedient, wanting nothing to do with harming Leo.

"Well, aren't you the gentle giant."Leo said as he sheathed his magnum.

Leo proceeded to pick and prod at the pink Lion, however not trying to in any way startle it. The beast had no genitalia, so he couldn't figure out a gender; it didn't look like it had any distinguishing features at all. He figured it was magic like the Gems, but was this thing causing the sand to go out of control? He got his answer when the sand temple off in the distance exploded.

"Hm…..guess not."He said.

The sand was big enough to cover both him and his newly befriended Lion, which he promptly named Lion.

"I'm telling you Amethyst, you should really bubble it right now."Pearl said.

"You're just jealous, my kill, my keep."

"I am far from jealous, just-bubble it before it becomes a problem."Pearl said.

"Well, they're back."Leo noted.

"Leo what is that thing?"Pearl asked as the trio pulled out their weapons at the sight of Lion.

"Well that's what _I_ was trying to figure out, but I can't really tell. I figured it could have been a corrupted Gem, but usually those kinds are aggressive in nature and tend to actually have a gemstone. However this thing doesn't have either of those traits. I can't tell what it is."Leo said.

"That's so sweet, I love it already."Amethyst said.

"Well it doesn't matter now I guess; we have to get the desert glass _out of the desert_."Pearl tried to make a grab at the corrupted gem.

"I told you I got it."Amethyst said as she walked off.

"Let's go Leo."Garnet said.

"Alright, I'll catch up with you in a sec."Leo said.

He turned his attention back to Lion and pulled up his arm band. It wasn't for fashion purposed of course. Actually it was a small display board that brought up the fragments; it also shot stuff out of it.

"Yo 'D', I need you to prep a tracker."Leo said.

"Of course."The arm band was ready to fire.

Leo pointed it at the Lion and fire the small device as it lodged itself into the huge mane. Lion didn't even flinch.

"Alright well, now I know where it will be later."Leo said as he went to the warp pad.

 **1 hour later**

Leo decided to take a nap, after all, after a mission he necessarily had little to do besides file the report to O.N.I., but he suspected they hardly ever looked at them. Anyways, there he was, napping on the couch with Amethyst.

"Shouldn't that be bubbled?"Leo lazily said as he lied on the couch.

"I don't see you doing anything about it."She said.

"Good point."Leo said as he fell back asleep.

That was until he heard someone knocking at his door.

"Go away! If you're O.N.I. we don't want any!"Leo yelled.

Yet another knock rang.

"Leo go tell them to go away."Amethyst said.

"Ugh, fine."Leo got up.

"You O.N.I. spoof really know when to barge at my-"Leo said as he opened the door to reveal none other than Lion.

"Lion? But, you were in the Sahara. How the hell did you get all the way to the states?"

Of course Lion didn't respond he was a lion; however Lion was no ordinary lion so if he _were_ to speak Leo wouldn't put it past him.

"Why are you here?"Leo asked.

Lion pushed passed him and went towards Amethyst. Except it wasn't Amethyst he was focused on.

"The Sand Glass Gem?"Leo questioned.

Lion growled at it, he didn't like it. Leo looked at it, what would cause him to come all the way back for it?

"What about it?"Leo looked at it.

Leo looked really hard, but it was too late. The window to his room burst open as a sea of sand came in and flooded them. Leo and Lion were flushed out of the house and onto the front yard. The Sand Glass Gem was on top of a spire of sand, surrounded by columns of more sand and traps.

"Leo, are you okay?"He looked back at the house, Pearl stood there with Garnet and Amethyst.

"I'm good!"Leo yelled over the wind.

"Stay there!"She yelled before his vision was covered with sand.

"Crap."He muttered, he was going to have to do this alone.

He looked under him, the sand was pulling him down this was going to be a problem. However when he looked at Lion he was standing still, not sinking at all.

"You won't mind me riding you, would you?"Leo asked, Lion simply looked at him.

"I hope that is a yes."He walked towards Lion and climbed on him.

"Alright Lion, can you take me to that Gem up there?"Leo asked.

With a jerk Lion ran towards the center of the sandstorm. To Leo it was…..exhilarating, his heart was pounding, this felt good. As Lion and Leo made their way through the sand columns more and more appeared to stop them, the next one wasn't one that Lion could dodge.

"Lion, dodge it!"Leo made a desperate plea.

Lion roared it was big and loud and even caused a shockwave that created a portal, moving them past the column. Leo cheered as Lion jumped towards the Sand Gem. Right as they reached it Leo lunged for it, and grabbed it. The sand structures around fell where they stood as Leo and Lion made it to the ground, the Gems immediately ran towards him.

"What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt, broken a bone, or something worse!"Pearl worried over him.

"That was awesome Leo!"Amethyst said.

"Good job."Garnet said.

"Credit goes where credit is due guys, it was mostly Lions work."Leo pointed to the pink lion.

"The lion?"Pearl asked.

"Yeah, he created sound waves and stuff. He could teleport! Let's keep him!"Leo said.

"Keep him? Oh no no no, we are not keeping that thing."Pearl said.

"Pearl look at him, he's harmless, plus he'd make a nice edition."Leo said.

"Even if we did, what are you going to feed him, or even put him?"

"Lion is magic, I don't think he needs to eat, and I'll just put him underneath the house."Leo said.

"I'm alright with it."Garnet said.

"Same, as long as I can get to play with him, isn't that right you cute loaf?!"Amethyst asked in baby voice.

"Garnet, are you sure?"Pearl asked.

Garnet nodded.

"Alright, but if that thing doesn't anything bad it's going back in the desert."

"So that means he can stay?"Leo asked.

"Yes, your lion can stay."Garnet said.

"Alright!"Leo congratulated himself.

Leo hugged the big lion; it did nothing, hardly acknowledging them.

 **No soundtrack for this one, really I just wanted to get this out of the way so Lion could be introduced. I guess I'll be on and off about the whole soundtrack thing. Maybe for important episodes. Anyway, enjoy.**


	8. Power Within-WBC

Expanded Universe

Due to the worries of Office of Naval Intelligence staff, the following evaluation is to determine how powerful Leonard Alpha Church is. Being the only Gemchurian-Human hybrid, Leonard is a high unknown. Fortunately, due to his training with agents Carolina and Cortana, and past knowledge of Rose Quartz herself, we can expect some of the following traits to be found in the Alpha sometime or the other. For the convenience of this paper all references of Leonard Alpha Church will be replaced as 'the Alpha' or 'Alpha'.

 **Shape Shifting-** According to the Amethyst, shape shifting is a common Gemchurian trait found in all of their races. Shape shifting comes natural to Gemchurian; the Alpha however needed time to develop this ability. Over the course of 2 months the Alpha picked up on this ability and managed to master it quickly. The Alpha was able to turn into what he pleased, however it did have a border. All of the Alpha's shape shifting could only range to and from humanoid shaped beings. Species similar to humans in figure alone were all that he could manage. Species such as the Mgalekgolo were not achievable.

 **Gravitational Manipulation-** This is an ability that stems from Rose Quartz herself. Merely it is the ability to make one defy gravity. This allows the Alpha to float and jump against the laws of gravity. This is empowered by his emotions Negative feelings grant him the ability to drop while positive feelings allow him to fall slower and jump higher. It has not been tested yet if the negative feelings allow him to stick to ground or not.

 **Fusion-** Like all others of the Gemchurian race, fusion is the ability to combine two different gems together to form a whole new being. Alpha has yet to master this ability, or even succeed in fusion. Attempts with other humans have proven fruitless as the Gems have stated that only other Gemchurians can fuse with one another. Unfortunately the Crystal Gems were not present at the moment. So for the time being fusion attempts are unavailable.

 **Durability-** This isn't actually an ability as much it is just there. Gemchurians are astoundingly resilient to physical damage. We can expect that Alpha as well has the durability of a Gemchurian or an above average durable skin. Tests on him have yet to be approved by the director of O.N.I. Even if they reached him, Dr. Catherine Halsey and former director Leonard Church still have major voices within O.N.I., in short there is a low possibility that it would pass.

 **Healing Tears -** Another ability passed down from Rose Quartz, these healing tears are said to heal many wounds. Gems with cracks are often sent to Rose Quartz to be healed by her. The Alpha has shown no signs of having this ability but we can only expect such, nothing is set in stone yet. We will have to wait.

 **Shield-** A Gem's weapon is derived from who they are. Acquiring a Rose Quartz gem, the Alpha can summon his mothers shield in order to attack or defend. Over his training he has managed to use this interchangeably in combat. Now the Alpha is a master at using is shield and his deadly defensively and offensively.

 **Bubble and Bubbling-** Two different yet very similar abilities, the Alpha's bubble are a side ability granted to him by, once again, Rose Quartz. The bubble allows him to surround himself in a sphere that protects him from much harm. The bubble is able to withstand as much force as the Alpha can withstand. It is variable but with training the bubble can become an incredible asset. Now to bubbling, it is unknown if all gems possess this ability or it is taught. Either way, bubbling is the ability to incase a gem in a sphere and transport them to a single destination. All bubbled gems or objects are sent to Garnets room within the Crystal Gems temple. It has been confirmed that living life forms are able to withstand this teleportation.

 **Sword Master-** As the title suggest the Alpha is a proficient master at the art of the sword. He seemed to inherit the ability from his Gems past owner; Rose Quartz. Call it muscle memory, but Alpha has managed incorporate his own style of fighting he calls Devil Strike. It is a free style form, lots of piercing and slashing. It's very brutal; enemies attacked with this attack are usually left cut into pieces.

 **Lasher-** Inspired by Amethyst's whip, Alpha had designed a coiled whip with blades attached to each side and a spear point at the end. The 120 meter whip is made with of an alloy that combines the durability of MJLONIR armor and the light weight of extra planetary metals (the specifics have yet to be disclosed). The whip is easily able to leap the Alpha over buildings and allow him the leverage to pick up and toss objects. Combat wise it can shred through Covenant shields.

 **CQC-** Trained by agent Carolina herself, the Alpha picked up an affinity for Close Quarters Combat. He is ravenous at it, utilizing any advantage given to him; whether it was clean or not. Although not imbued with enhancements, Alpha was able to beat some Gen-II Spartans. Despite this achievement he was beaten by the higher adept Spartans.

 **Cinder-** Cinder isn't a persistent ability, and neither is it gained by his Gemchurian blood. Rather, Cinder is the ability granted by his fragment, Sigma. Cinder allows the Alpha to form hotspots, fire glass, a projectile flame, and other abilities centered on fire. Cinder has an unknown range of power which makes it a dangerous ability.

Of course these are only a fraction of what the Alpha is possible of but they have let to be revealed. The Alpha is still an unknown and can possibly be an ill benefit to the Office of Naval Intelligence. As a high ranking O.N.I. officer I recommend that the Crystal Division be shut down. The potential of these 'Crystal Gems' being used against us could be a potential threat. The added bonus of them being war criminals from their home world can also cause an extra-planetary incident with the Diamond Authority. If they are to figure out that we hold some of their enemies we as a species would be fighting two fronts at once. Seeing how the Covenant alone have decimated our troops planet by planet it would be beneficial to gain favor with the Diamond Authority.

Respectfully Submitted by Margaret Parangosky


	9. What Ado About Fusion

Expanded Universe

"Ha, check that Pearl."Amethyst said as she placed a pawn right next to Pearls king.

"Wow Amethyst, I'm impressed. You got me distracted."Pearl admired.

"So Pearl, your move."Leo said.

"Unfortunately you have no sense for strategy."Pearl used her rook to place Amethysts king in a Checkmate.

"Wait what!?"Amethyst looked at the board.

"Looks like you lose Amethyst."Leo looked at the board.

"Aw man."Amethyst fell backwards, onto the sand.

"I certainly hope that you won't fall for something that obvious during our missions."Pearl said as she stood up.

"What, are you saying I'm not smart?"

"I'm merely stating that you have to be able to see a trick when it is presented to you."

"See, this is why we don't form Opal. You are always _nagging_ , why don't you lay off huh?"

"My " _nagging_ " allows me to correct you whenever you go wrong, as for why we don't form Opal; it is because you are difficult and a mess."Pearl said as their argument started to heat up.

"Alright alright, that's enough. What's Opal, your fusion?"Leo got in between Pearl and Amethyst.

"You got that right kiddo."Amethyst said.

"Come to think of it, I've never seen any of you fuse. Not once."Leo said.

"Well that is because we use fusion only for special occasions where we are in desperate need to survive."Pearl said.

"Well that's a bit un-cool. What's the use of having a big weapon and not using to you the full potential?"Leo said.

"Opal is not a weapon; a fusion is not a weapon, they something more than just another tool to be used in combat."Pearl said.

The sound of the warp pad in the house rang as well as the light from it.

"Garnet is back."Leo said as he made his way back to the house.

Leo made it in the house just as the warp pad finished, allowing him to see Garnet come in at the right time.

"Welcome back Garnet, so did you find the locations?"Leo asked.

She nodded, "The Heaven and Earth Beetles are located in two locations. Leo, you take Pearl and Amethyst to retrieve the Heaven Beetle. I'll go and get the Earth beetle."

"What; why can't they go alone!?"Amethyst argued.

"The Earth beetle is located at the bottom of a boiling lava lake located in Indonesia; only I can swim in lava, so that means you three will have to go together."

"Alright, so where is the Heaven beetle?"Leo asked as he packed his bag.

"It is located at the Sky Spire located here, in northern Scotland. Don't worry, it's safer."

"You mean boring-er."Amethyst said.

"You mean _more_ boring."Pearl corrected her.

"Oh so you agree with me!"Amethyst turned it back on her."

"Ugh, let's just go."Pearl made her way to the Warp Pad.

Before Leo made his way to the warp pad Garnet stopped him, "Keep the peace between them, alright?"She asked.

"Of course," Leo said.

Leo made his way to the warp pad, "Alright guys, let's make this a clean mission."Leo said.

The warp pad sounded transporting the three to their destination. The scenery was beautiful, a gorgeous mountain range mixed with a pink sunset (Leo's signature color). It was so beautiful; in fact, Leo forgot to feel to extreme cold crouching up on him.

"Oh cold cold cold cold cold!"Leo said as he put on some of his packed thermal jackets.

"You gonna be alright dude?"Amethyst asked.

"Yeah, just give me a minute."Leo exhaled for a second.

"Alright, the only logical meaning of finding the Heaven beetle is to follow the trail. Let's go."Leo said.

However as the three started the climb, Leo had plenty of questions about fusion. Unlike his gems previous host, fusion concerning Leo was difficult. He didn't know if he could even fuse much less fuse with a gem. His time with his step-sisters proved fruitless only leaving him with un-answered questions. Now was a prime opportunity to figure about his possible power.

"So…when you form Opal or fusion in general, does one control one half of the body and the other controls the other half?"

"No Leo."Pearl said, obviously not wanting to talk about anything to do with fusion.

"Oh come on, this is important information here. Is Opal an entirely new person, or is she just both of your minds in one body thinking separately? What about-"

"No Leo."Amethyst said.

"Ugh, you two aren't helpful."Leo shook his head as he trekked up the path.

The walk was long; it took them up ladders, bridges, and even a waterfall. The bridge part was the most eventful. Amethyst tried to have some fun scaring Pearl by jumping on the bridge. Pearl was the one to scold her about safety and all but Leo was the one to calm the situation. Something like this would usually be par for the course for each other's careless interactions. However as Leo matured he found himself participating less in Amethysts antics.

Leo sighed, keeping the peace between these two was harder than he expected, not impossible but hard. Pearl and Amethyst were possibly the most opposite members of the Crystal Gems, Pearls controlling nature versus Amethysts mischievous personality almost always clashed during a mission. Seeing as how neither of them are quick to apologize it made working with both of them difficult. Leo just wished that they could complete the mission before something screwed up for decided to mess with them.

Finally as they made it over the last hill they could see the Sky Spire, it levitated off of any surface, suspended in mid air.

"Well, there it is. Guess I'll go first."Leo said.

"You sure you can make it across those gaps?"Pearl asked.

"No problem."Leo backed up before jumping towards the first levitating platform.

"Whoa!"Leo said as the platform beneath him shook.

However the platform didn't stop there, it started crumbling, making Leo fall.

"Help!"Leo shouted.

"Leo!"Both Amethyst and Pearl said.

Amethyst summoned her weapons and tied it around Pearl as she jumped to catch the free-falling Leo. Once she did Amethyst yanked the both of them up.

"Whoa, that was a close one."Leo said.

"Are you alright?"Pearl asked frantically.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Good teamwork guys."

"Obviously you won't be able to cross, they're too degraded."Pearl said.

"I have an idea."Amethyst said.

"And what is that?"Leo asked.

Just as he finished, Amethyst picked him up and tossed him all the way to the other side. Leo landed unceremoniously but it worked.

"Amethyst!"Pearl said.

"Don't worry 'P' he's fine. Right? You are fine right?"Amethyst said as she made her way across.

"Yeah, don't worry about me."Leo stood up.

"Let's just finish this."He said as he looked up at the stairs.

The roof of the Sky Spire was quite anti-climatic. Around them was a (he assumed) artificial pond, and in the center was a pathway that lead to a small Barbie-sized house.

"Why would a relic need a house? Look at it; it has an entire bedroom in here! Heck it even has a bathroom. Whoever made this was seriously not taking their job serious."Leo said.

"But where is the heaven beetle, it's not in here! It wouldn't leave, would it?"Pearl worried.

"Maybe you should worry some more, that way you can inspire us to find it faster."Amethyst said.

"How about you stop slouch around, Amethyst and help me look for it."

"Hey it's not my fault the stupid beetle decided to jet."Amethyst retorted.

As they fought Leo heard something, something like…..a bird. He turned around towards the direction and found his answer. It was a huge a bird native to these mountains, Leo couldn't remember the name, but he did know they were highly aggressive when an intruder came into their territory.

"Move!"Leo yelled as he tackled both gems into the dome building.

"That thing is too huge for a magnum shot, and I don't either of you can punch through its body. I only see one immediate way we can stop this thing. You two need to fuse Opal."Leo said.

"I suppose this is the right occasion."Pearl said.

"Yeah okay, let's get this over with."Amethyst said.

The two moved to opposite ends of the dome as their gems started to glow. They both bowed and started to dance. Pearls ballet style was heavily different from Amethysts…..dance hall? Leo really didn't know, maybe it was street. Either way it didn't look good, their dancing resulted in a bad stance that left Pearl on the floor. However they tried to form none the less, but it didn't take long for the fusion to be interrupted and spit both of them out.

"You wanna try that again, y'know, without messing it up."Amethyst said.

"It would have worked if your form wasn't so erratic and formless."

"So it was all my fault? You didn't even synch up with my dancing! You know how I-"

"Enough!"Leo yelled, causing the argument to stop.

"Look you two, you're going to have to put aside your differences so that we can actually de-"His words were cut off as the beak of the gigantic bird crashed through the dome and swallowed Leo whole.

"Agh!"Leo yelled as he tried to keep the bird from swallowing him.

"Leo!"The two gems shouted in distress again.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"Leo yelled as he plummeted down the throat of the bird.

Inside, saw countless of bones lying on the ground. The fleshy innards were strangely filled with gems. It was, in fact, a gem monster.

"Huh, I guess it isn't native."Leo said.

"Baaaaaa~"Leo turned around to see a mountain goat chewing on something gold.

He looked closer, and inside the goats mouth was a golden and white beetle.

"Welp, guess I found the stupid thing."Leo shrugged as he pulled out his magnum and shot the goat.

"Better let it die a quick death than let it suffocate in here."He told himself.

Picking up the beetle sounded a big boom and an entire arm through the flesh.

"Whoa, what the-?!"Leo yelled in astonishment as more arms punched through obviously feeling for something.

Eventually one of the arms grabbed him and yanked him through. He was pulled out and felt a push off form the gem monster, landing him and his capturer in the Sky Spire pond. He looked up to see who held him, she was tall….very tall. With a violet hue skin, four arms, blonde hair, a dress that looked somewhat of Indian origin and two stones on the chest and forehead.

"You must be Opal."Leo concluded.

However her attention was not on him as the remains of the gem monster turned into their very own beaks and descended down to attack them. Opal back flipped away from the gem monsters, landing on the staircases rail and sliding down it. In one single bound, she jumped across the floating rocks and set him down.

"Stay here."She commanded as she walked forward.

From Pearls gem she pulled out her spear, from Amethysts' she pulled out her whip; as she brought them together, the flashed to become a bow. With her left hands she grabbed the bow; with her right hands she pulled back the string, creating an arrow out of nowhere. When she released it the bow was sent into the middle of the flock and burst stopping all of them in their tracks.

As the flock was dealt with Opal turned towards a rather awestruck Leo.

"Whoa, I knew fusion was something extraordinary but this-this isn't what I was expecting."Leo said.

"No."

"What?"

"We don't control one side of the body."She said.

Leo smiled; this is what he can look forward to if…that is…if he can actually fuse.

 **Back at the temple**

Garnet was just finished with clearing her head of any left of magma when the warp pad activated behind her. She was slightly surprised to see Opal and Leo.

"We're back."Leo casually said.

"Welcome back, where's the Heaven beetle?"Garnet asked.

"I don't have it!"Opal said as she fell apart.

"Amethyst, you got distracted!"Pearl said from the right side of the warp pad.

"Hey, you were the one who was caught up in all the back flips!"She retorted.

"Guys, guys, calm down. I have it right here."Leo pulled the beetle from his bag.

"Good work Leo, you helped keep the peace."She said.

"Yeah well, being swallowed hole by a gem monster wasn't the top of my list today but I guess it helped."Leo said.

"You might want to take a bath."She said.

"Yeah, I'll do that right now." He said as he went to his room, he sighed, at least the mission was a success.

 **At Dr. Church's house**

"Are you sure about this?"Delta asked.

"Positive, Leo connected perfectly with all of you. I was worried you all might fill too much of his head."Doctor Church replied.

"Do you think he'd be willing for the A.I. implantation surgery?"Omega asked.

"Without a doubt, besides he loves you guys."Leonard said.

"But, why let go of us? We have countless projects to do."Theta asked

"I'm getting older, and with age comes more time on the couch than anything else. I've had my time with all of you. It's time Leo inherits something he'd like."Leonard said as he pulled up the A.I. Data Crystal Chip.

 **Okay so for whatever reason, FF isn't letting me submit this document from Microsoft Word, and seeing as how I've been sitting on this for about a week I wanted to finish it and put it out there because I'm really excited for the next WBC. So I'mma try and fix this (if it turns out bad) but for now bare with me and enjoy, thanks.**


	10. Blake Belladonna-WBC

**So, for this WBC it'll narrative rather than something that you'd find on a file or somewhat. There'll be more of these later on. Anyway aside from….holy mother of balls E3, if you love games like me this was a pretty exceptional E3 but let's take a moment and bask in Hideo Kojima and a naked Norman Reedus. Anyway, with that out of the way, let's take a look into Blake Belladonna.**

Expanded Universe

3rd POV-Director Leonard L. Church

"She came to us, sir."The guard said.

"Thank you soldier, remain at your post."The Director said.

"Yes sir."He saluted and kept his position.

Leonard walked towards the one way mirror, standing there was his daughter, Carolina.

"Have you identified her?"He asked.

"Indeed, she is Blake Belladonna. She's a lieutenant in the Insurrectionist faction on Reach. She came to us wanting to swap information for safety."She said.

"But why?"He asked.

"We haven't spoken with her yet."

"I'll go in then."

"We could easily send in a specialist."She said.

"I know."He motioned for the guards to open the door.

He walked into the room, it was very bright, very blinding. He kept his eyes to the small girl ahead of him. She looked no older than 14, a year or two older than Leo at the moment. He sat down across from her, her head shot up as she heard him sit.

"So, I hear you want protection."Leonard said.

"Yes, I have things you'll want. Base locations, leaders, supply lines, I-"

"Why?"

"W-what?"She asked.

"You want protection, why?"

"It's…..it's hard to explain."

"We have time."Leonard said.

"I….I joined them because I saw what they were doing was right."

"You saw hope in them, a way of change."

"Yes, I did. I grew up awful; nothing but the clothes on my back and the rags on my feet. I lived with my friend, Adam. We would do everything together….we helped each other survive. And when we heard about the Insurrectionists, we thought we found our calling. People who thought like we did, who were done with U.N.S.C. control, with a new government we could have changed things…made them better."

"But something changed."

"Yes….suddenly instead of peaceful protests there were riots. Instead of sit downs, we started throwing Molotov's at embassies, instead of boycotts…..bombings. The insurrection gradually started becoming a terror organization more than a liberation front. I tried to make sense of it, to see the right in their wrongs. Justify the madness….I was left empty handed. So I tried to convince others, tell them that this wasn't the way. They didn't listen; they continued to lash out their anger at the U.N.S.C. and anyone who supported it. Around this time I spoke with my friend Adam and tried to convince him to leave. He was too far gone to reason with, he called me a traitor to the organization and had me taken in….but I was able to escape before they could do anything. I caught the quickest shuttle to Earth and came straight here. They've listed me as a traitor; now they want me dead because what I know could prove detrimental to the Reach faction, maybe even affect others."

"And in exchange of this, you want protection."

"Yes, please. I wouldn't risk coming here if I had no choice and no chance of living without O.N.I. help. You make people disappear all the time; surely you can do it with me."She said.

Leonard had half a mind to promise her protection….than he'd break it. A small girl like her wouldn't be too much of a problem to fool, and seeing her in the situation she is she'd be none the wiser to agree. Leonard was just about to do that except…he thought of someone. Someone very close…but very far from him. How they saw beauty in everything, and how much she gave second chances. He thought about Rose….what would she do if she knew what he was about to do? What would she do in this case?

"You give us that information, and I'll personally keep you under protection."Leonard said.

"Really!?"She asked.

"I promise, as Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence, you will be under my protection."Leonard said.

"Director…."Blake said silently, surprised of who this man is.

"I'll send for some guards to come and place you in a room where you can change and wait for me. When I am done we will go over what you know. When we are done with that, I will see to your protection."He stood up and left.

Once he exited the door he got and angry look from Carolina.

"You're questioning my decision?"He asked.

"No….I hate why you did it."She said as she walked off.

 **Directors Office**

"Once again, Director, I must make this clear that you cannot make decisions this important without even acknowledging us."One of the holograms of the Oversight Committee explained.

"Again, Director, your choices are being questioned. Many believe that your encounter with the 'Crystal Gems' have changed you enough to alter your ability to make good decisions."

"Your throat is on the line here, Leonard; I do hope you know what you are doing."

"What decisions I make are not up to the Oversight Committee, as Director of O.N.I. I can damn well choose how I see fit."He fought back.

"Yes, as Director you may choose how you see fit, but if these decisions are cause to a disruption in O.N.I. we are able to make you resign from your position. Are we clear, Director?"The woman asked.

"Crystal."Leonard said.

"Then we won't be needed."The 4 holograms disappeared.

His telecom rang at his desk.

"Yes George?"Leonard asked.

"Your son is ready to come back in. Should I send him on through?"

"Of course, send him in."Leonard straightened his glasses.

In walked Leo, a bag on his back and a smile on his face.

"Hi dad!"He came in and sat on one of the chairs.

"Hello Leo, how have the Gems been?"

"Nice, they don't really know a lot of stuff…I tried asking them about getting a piñata for my birthday next year but they didn't know what it what! That's crazy."

"Well Leo, the Gems are crazy people, it's to be expected."He said.

"Yeah I guess."

"Look on the bright side, crazy is unique; and so are you."Leonard leaned down to his son and pinched his cheek.

Months passed, slowly but surely Blake passed on her information to him. With the information given they were able to impact the Insurrectionists on Reach, heck, it even lead to the capture of some of their leaders. But with time came needed change, soon Leonard Church was no longer the Director of O.N.I., which left Blake in a very uncomfortable position.

"What's going to happen to her?"Leo asked.

Leo looked at Blake, she may be able to kill a man but Leonard trusted her enough not to kill his son.

"I have that figured out."Leonard said.

"What?"Blake asked.

"As I still have influence within O.N.I., I have pushed for a pardon for you. You're name will be cleared of all criminal activities and possible connections with terrorist organizations."

"No way!"Blake said.

"Really?"Leo asked.

"Fortunately, yes. It took a lot of persuading and favors though. I wouldn't expect anything else helpful from some of the others but I believe we can make something from it."

"This is so exciting! I can't for you to see the house and-"He gasped.

"The gems would like you so much!"Leo said.

"Gems?"Blake looked towards Leonard.

"Things will be revealed as they come, now let's gather all my things, we have a long drive ahead of us."

It was a long drive from Langley to Beach City, Blake had been cooped up in that building for months, and it was nice to see the world. Especially one she hadn't been on.

"Never seen Earth before?"Leonard asked.

"No, only in vids."Blake said.

"It's rather beautiful, it may not be as large as Reach but it can feel pretty big at times."Leonard said.

"I bet, so many people talk about it back on Reach. 'Oh when I save enough I'm going to Earth.' 'I bet Earth is great this time of year.' 'Earth was so great.' People just seem so….fascinated with it."

"Maybe it's because just because people like to flock to where they came from."

"Yeah."She said solemnly.

"Don't fret, Blake, one day you can go back to Reach. One day."Leonard said.

Blake said nothing and continued to look out the window. As hours passed, they finally reached their location.

"Welcome to Casa De La Church Blake!"Leo said.

"Wow, it's kinda big."She noticed.

"Yeah well, Carolina used to live here, but she left a long time ago. So now we have a 4 room house with 3 bathrooms and only 2 people living in it. Well…only occasionally, I have to go with the Gems every so often. I'm kinda a big deal to them."Leo smiled.

"Sure."She said.

"Here, I'll show you where you can sleep."Leo motioned to Blake.

Blake looked towards Leonard, "Go ahead; I'll have your bags down and in the living room when you are done."

Blake followed Leo through the house; she couldn't help but feel a tinge of hate. He's lived so well, a nice house, warm food, food in general, fresh clothes, and a parent who was actually there. He was what she despised the most, but she couldn't help but stop being mad. Ever since they met, Leo has always had polarizing effects on her. The way he lived always made her mad, but who he was always seemed to bring a peaceful and warm feeling in her heart. Like whenever Adam praised her for a job well done or one of his big hugs. Things like that, something that brought good feelings to her.

"-and here is where you will be sleeping. It used to be the guest room but seeing how we don't wanna mess with any of Carolina's stuff, dad decided you can use this room. Besides, who has guest rooms these days?"Leo said.

She settled in, it took a while to get used to the comfortable bed and good clothes. This was a luxury she'd been deprived of for most of her life. Now here she was, a traitor, a miscreant, a freedom fighter, basking in the commodities of the people she used to damn. She might as well be a hypocrite. She soon found out that Leo did not live here. No how he put it, he lived with 3 magical aliens that have been alive for thousands of years and have sworn to protect the planet Earth. There used to be a fourth but she apparently 'Gave up her physical and mental being-'to birth Leo. So basically Leo was some sort of hybrid alien that has never existed before his birth. She had a hard time believing this. That was until she saw it for herself.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, those were their names. They protected the Earth and every living thing on it; such was their mission for eons. Leo was one of them too; his talk about his mother practically committing suicide for him was true. He was training to be like them, to help protect the world like his mother before him, and fill the gap left by his mother. She lived sub-standard for quite a long time, and if there was one thing she knew how to read (besides books) were faces. It may not have been voluntary but she could see the frowns on them whenever Leo's mother was mentioned. She could only infer that her departure wasn't easy on them.

After the gems, she met Leo's best friends. Red team and Blue team, they called themselves. Coincidentally, Weiss Schnee was one of the members of Blue team. She hadn't seen her ever since Leonard was kicked from his position at O.N.I., and so she assimilated with her new group.

Here she was, a traitor, a miscreant, a freedom fighter….living the life….and she'd do it again if it meant getting to where she was now.

 **Okay so once again FF isn't letting me upload the file from MS Word to the Doc Manager, so I'm gonna go ask them what's up. Anyway I had a bit of fun with this chapter since not only did I not have to do this like a file but was able to go into a side character like Blake. Anyways, 'till next time.**


	11. Poof

Expanded Universe-Poof

Today was a very special day for Leo, pretty rare too. It was-maybe-once every month that the Gems had no missions, no scouting, nothing to do for that one day, and whenever it happened Leo took the opportunity to spend as much time with them. So with it raining outside, what perfect time would it not be to watch a movie together?

"I'm telling you, the choreography in this movie is fantastic; props to that guy."Leo said.

"I don't know Leo, Art of the Sword started getting stale at the 4th movie."Amethyst said.

"Heresy, I will hear none of it!"He said.

"Ugh, they aren't even doing it right. That's not how you even hold a sword."Pearl critiqued.

"This is a fantasy movie Pearl, _fantasy_ none of this is supposed to make sense."Leo said.

"You do some of these things; if you want a proper lesson in sword fighting you can come to me."Pearl said.

"Oh, can I? Like right now?"Leo asked.

"Right now?"She asked.

"Sure, unless…you're chicken."Leo said.

"I am not-"

"Bacaww!"Leo squawked.

"Leo-"

"Bacaww!"Amethyst joined in.

"Amethyst not-"

"Bacaww."Garnet said.

"Alright, fine I'll show you."Pearl said.

"Alright!"Leo cheered.

"And I know just the place."Pearl stood up and walked to the warp pad.

With everyone on the Warp Pad, the four of them of them were transported to a sky arena. It looked broken; it kinda reminded him of the Roman Coliseum.

"Whoa."Leo looked around.

"Okay, to perfectly show the proper way to sword fight I'll need a sparring partner."Pearl said.

"I mean I can certainly-"Leo was shot down by Garnet, who placed her hand on his shoulders.

"Luckily, I have one."Pearl twirled around on her toes and projected a hologram version of her.

"Oh, neat, and totally not freaky in any way."Leo said.

"Do you wish to engage in combat?"The holo-Pearl asked.

"Let this be the perfect duel."Pearl said, throwing it her other sword.

"You've already made a mistake by challenging me."

"Ha-ha, we shall let our swords decide."Pearl readied her stance.

"Nerd!"Amethyst yelled.

"Sshhhh!"Leo and Garnet said.

"Commencing duel!"Holo-Pearl shouted as it lunged towards her.

H.P. and Pearl collided, so strong that it sent out a gust of wind. They continued to clash swords as they ran along each other; it was rather outstanding to see a fight like this. Each strike was calculated and meant to kill, Leo's style however revolved around fast paced attacks-they weren't meant to immediately kill-but he made up for it by keeping attacks chained together so the target wouldn't be let off. However, he figured that he could learn a thing or two from Pearl, he was sure that he wasn't willing to change up his sword style for Pearls own sake.

"Opening detected!"H.P. said as it knocked Pearls sword out of her hands.

As H.P. swung though, Pearl slid under it to her sword. H.P. jumped into the air and came down hard on Pearl, but she was able to block it and jab her mid-air. The jab sent H.P. flying to the other side of the court, leaving Pearl the victor.

"Yeah, go Pearl."Leo said.

"Why thank you Leo."Pearl said as she pointed her sword down.

"I mean, that looked nice and all, but I much prefer my own style. Though, I'm willing to be taught a few things."Leo said as he walked up to Pearl.

"Alright Leo, look here, initiate training mode."Pearl brought out her sword as Holo-Pearl rose.

"Initiating training mode!"Holo-Pearl shouted.

"Does it always have to yell?"Leo asked.

"Watch here Leo; see how I position myself with my left leg forward."Pearl pointed to her left leg.

"Pearl, I don't need basic training. I just want to be shown a few moves. Y'know, something to throw into my bag."Leo said.

"You have to learn the basics before you can onto more complex fighting styles."Pearl said as she casually sparred with the hologram.

"Pearl I'm no newbie, just show me the moves."Leo said.

"No, Leo, this isn't just something you can learn willy-nilly. It takes patience and-GUH!"Pearl grunted.

Leo looked down; piercing through her chest was the sword of Holo-Pearl.

"Pearl!"Leo said looking right back at her.

"Oh, don't worry Leo. Its fine, I'm-"She exploded into a cloud of dust leaving behind her gem.

"PEARL!"Leo yelled as he lunged for her gemstone.

"Challenger defeated."The holo-pearl declared.

"Leo."Garnet came from behind.

"Is she gonna be okay?"Leo asked.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine."

"She just got impaled, how is she gonna be fine, Amethyst?"Leo asked.

"Leo. Whenever our bodies take too much damage, we retreat into our gems to regenerate. Pearl is okay."Garnet said.

"This is awful."Leo said.

"It'll be alright, she'll regenerate in a few days and then she can show you whatever you need to know."Amethyst said.

 **2 WEEKS LATER**

"A few days they said, she'll regenerate they said, ugh…what did I expect?"Leo asked as he held Pearls gem.

"When are you gonna come back Pearl?"Leo asked as he looked across the house.

The place was a mess, broken cabinets, a lot of broken things actually, and it was all due to one problem.

"Parry. Parry. Thrust!"The three words shouted once again.

"You damn stupid hologram."Leo muttered.

He rubbed Pearls gem again, he missed Pearl….a lot. It wasn't just because she did most of the chores around the house (which he tried not to feel be the only reason he missed her), but because if there was anyone that Leo had a bond closer to than any other, it was Pearl. Call it the remains of Rose Quartz if you will, Pearl has always been there for Leo….for better or for worse. Pearl was possibly the closest thing to a mother (figure) he's had, so it'd e perfectly understandable that he'd be a little more melancholic.

"Parry. Parry. Thrust!"H.P. shouted again.

"Oh my god, will you shut up!?"Leo yelled at it.

It didn't respond.

"Good."He stated.

"Parry. Parry. Thrust!"

"That's it!"Leo yelled going to his closet and pulling out a long black sheath.

"Hey Leo, stop talking to that thing, it's weird. Plus it makes you look like a psycho."Amethyst walked in with Garnet in hand.

"I'm putting this thing down. It's gotten on my nerve, LONG ENOUGH!"Leo said as he put Pearl down.

"You sure about this?"Garnet asked.

"Oh yeah, I am."Leo said.

"This is going to be good."Amethyst said as he followed Leo dragging H.P. to the warp pad.

With a wave of the hand, the 3 of them (and H.P.) went to the sky arena. The place was empty, like last time. However, this time Leo and H.P. would be the ones fighting. Leo knew H.P. was on training mode, and with each hit it would make the fight tougher. He planned on making this as quickly as he could, fortunately, he brought his best sword. The HF Blade, this thing could help beat the Holo-Pearl.

"Do you wish to battle!?"H.P. shouted again.

"Yes, I do."Leo said.

"You've already sealed your doom!"She shouted.

Leo grabbed the end of the sheath and pulled it off; underneath it was a finely made sword, the HF Blade. It had a black blade and grip with silver edges on the blade itself. The blade was made from the same stuff MJOLNIR armor was, except a lot less durable.

"Parry. Parry. Thrust!"H.P. shouted again, attempting to strike at Leo.

"The only way to get you gone is if you are completely defeated. I'm just going to have to speed up the process."Leo walked towards the holograms and swiped it with his sword.

Holo-Pearl blurred a little before her eyes turned red, "Challenger wins; activating hard mode!"

Leo hardly had enough time to block the attack coming right at him. The attack nearly knocked him off his feet. Leo furrowed his brow and broke off. There was no time for flare, he wanted this thing gone A.S.A.P., so he attacked as well. He swung left and right, hoping to catch H.P. off guard, it didn't work. It either blocked or deflected the attacks.

"Ugh! Die!"Leo yelled.

Leo backed off and came straight back at it, lunging forward. H.P. dodged the attack and attempted to attack from behind, however Leo fell to the ground and with a sweep of his legs he brought H.P. to the ground. Leo turned his sword towards the ground to stab H.P., he missed as it rolled to the side and struck at him in one motion. Leo jumped backwards, barely getting out of the way.

"Defense rating: B!"H.P. shouted.

"Shut up!"Leo charged again, this time being deflected.

Leo jumped backwards again, he needed to end this but H.P. was giving him a hell of a time. He needed to find a way through its defense, now.

'I got it!'He thought.

He chucked his sword towards H.P. and ran as fast he could. As he predicted, H.P. fell for it and deflected the attack, making it wide open for Leo to attack. Leo ran as fast as possible, with H.P. open he reeled back his fist and let it loose on its face. H.P. was in mid-air…useless. Leo's nerves went into overdrive as he spun towards his sword, grabbed it, and ran it through H.P.

"RAAAAAAAAA!"Leo yelled as he shoved his sword into H.P.

"Match over, Challenger wins!"H.P. declared as it dispersed into particles of light.

Leo breathed heavily, taking big breaths. That was a tough fight, not tougher than any of the sparring matches he's had with some of the Spartan II's, but definitely hard. He remembered taking a punch from one of them felt like getting his stomach wrenched. Luckily this wasn't a low-tier Spartan or a Spartan at all.

"Bravo Leo, however, I would fix some of that defense. I saw plenty of openings that could have led to you losing."Leo turned around.

"Pearl!?"Leo asked as he saw her, fully revived.

Her outfit was definitely different; she didn't have a tutu anymore. More like a scarf that was tied to her waist. He liked the change, he never liked the tutu.

"Of course, who wouldn't I be?"She smiled as he walked towards her.

"Why did it take you so long, it's been 2 weeks!?"Leo asked.

"I'm sorry; I just had to be certain about my appearance. I'm really sorry if you got upset."Pearl said as Leo hugged her.

"Just don't take long again."Leo said.

"I promise, and while we're here, how about we learn some of those 'moves' you asked me about?"Pearl said.

Leo smiled, "I'm fine, let's just go back to the house."

"I think that sounds wonderful."Pearl smiled.

"Nerds!"Amethyst yelled from her cloud.

"You're a nerd Amethyst!"Leo jokingly said.

"Oh now you're gonna get it!"Amethyst jumped off her cloud.

"Oh no!"Leo said as he ran for the warp pad.

"Get back here!"Amethyst said.

"Amethyst please!"Pearl ran after them.

"I'm gonna get you!"

"No you aren't!"Leo laughed as he made it to the warp pad.

 **So, how you guys doing? Yeah, it's been 9 days, sorry. So, I've gotta ask. Does anyone know how to properly like….write action sequences? It's pretty apparent that fast paced action isn't really my thing, so if anyone knows hit me up with a PM. Anyway, have fun, Summer of Steven has yet to come and we're all shivering up from the lack of content so enjoy your final days as we die from it.**


	12. The Armory

**So, against my better judgment, I've decided to postpone the next W.B.C. for the next update and do this one. I just really want to get the actual plot moving, y'know. Get to the good parts, but unfortunately I can't write with my brain and spew these chapters out at a constant rate. Trust me, if I could, I would. So until the technology becomes main-stream, we are stuck typing out our stories. Before I go I should probably something, The soundtrack…yeah I've just decided to make a single song to describe each arc. For this one, it's This Will Be the Day from RWBY. Anyway, let's continue the story.**

Expanded Universe

"So, what's this movie about again?"Leo asked.

"It's about a teenage girl who was once a princess. But after her father was killed, her mother, the Queen, sent her off to another country with her blind and disabled brother. There she is stuck in the middle of a war between her mother-country and the country she lives in. After living with the prime minister of the country for years she goes off to live with a friend. And that's just the back story! There are all sorts of cool stuff, like philosophy, strange eye magic, and maybe just a bit of fan service."Connie blushed.

"Sounds cool, when's the next showing?"Leo asked.

"In about an hour, we sh-"Connie was cut off as the warp pad activated.

"Whoa."She said.

"Huh, looks like the gems are back."Leo said.

The Gems flashed in from wherever they came from, as the light settled they stood in fashionable poses…probably to impress Connie. Ever since they've met her they've tried to look 200% better than their normal selves or just generally leave a good impact on her. Leo had no idea why, he was just as confused as the next person.

"Hi guys."Leo said.

"Oh hello Leo aaaand Connie; it's so good to see you here."Pearl said.

"Hello."Garnet said.

"Wassup."Amethyst greeted.

"You look like you're going somewhere."Pearl noticed the bag full of snacks.

"We're going to the movies, Connie is gonna show me this movie. Apparently it has some weird eye magic or something."Leo said.

"I mean, it's not as cool as what you guys do."Connie showed them the movie title with the star actress in it.

"Huh, that's easy."Amethyst said as she shape-shifted into the lead actress.

"Whoa."Connie said.

"Gimme fooooood!"Amethyst roared.

"No Amethyst, not for you."Leo put his arm between her and the food.

"We should really get going, by the way, how are we going to get there?"

"Well, usually I'd take my motorcycle-"

"You have a motorcycle?!"Connie exclaimed.

"-but seeing as how it doesn't have enough gas to take us there and back, we'll have to rely on my alternate means of transportation. Come on, I'll introduce you to him. See you guys later."Leo waved.

"Have fun!"Pearl said as Leo walked down the stairs.

"Wait, introduce _him_?"Connie asked as she followed.

"Connie, meet Lion, Lion, meet Lion."Leo said as he showed off the pink beast.

"You have a pet Lion!?"Connie exclaimed once again.

"I wouldn't necessarily say _pet_ , Lion is more of a free-spirit and does what he likes. The guy does some weird stuff."Leo patted him on the back.

"Wow Leo, your life is pretty awesome. With all that magic and stuff, the most exciting part of my day is tennis practice."Connie picked up a piece of wood.

"Forehand, Backhand, Over head death strike!"Connie shouted.

"Jeez, what are they teaching kids these days?"Leo rhetorically asked.

"Well, I kinda made up that last one."Connie said as she put down the piece of wood.

Lion growled a little, getting their attention.

"We should really get going huh?"Leo asked.

"Yeah, let's go."Connie said.

"All aboard!"Leo announced.

Connie, with the help of Leo, sat first in front as Leo got on behind her.

"Alright Lion, we're gonna to-WHOA!"With a jerk, Lion started running.

"Does he know the way?"Connie asked.

"No clue."Leo said.

As Lion was running down the boardwalk, he made a sharp left turn towards the ocean.

"Lion, Lion, LION!"Leo shouted.

With a huge leap, Lion jumped some 10 feet into the ocean, but the weird thing was, they weren't sinking into the water.

"You can walk on water, dude not cool."Leo said, before Lion took off sprinting again.

"Whoa, this is so cool!"Connie said.

"Yeah but where is he going?"Leo asked.

Lion kept on running until they were pretty far from the shore, which was when he gave a massive roar and a pink circle appeared some 10 feet in front of them.

"Lion no!"Leo said, but it was too late as Lion jumped through it.

In the circle was a lot of light, it was hard to explain. If Leo had to compare it to something, it'd be very similar to slip space or the warp pad.

"Has he ever done this?!"Connie shouted.

"No!"Leo shouted back.

Finally as it was over, Lion skidded to a stop. Dizzied from the…whatever it was, Leo and Connie couldn't help themselves from falling into the water.

"Ooooh, that doesn't feel good."Leo said.

"That was really cool."Connie said.

"What is this place?"Leo looked around the cave they were in.

Lion growled to gain their attention, "Lion, where are we?"Leo asked, knowing he wouldn't get an answer.

As Leo walked up the stairs he gathered himself as looked around. They were in a cave, which was for sure. The platform they were on looked pristine and unworn, probably alien…most likely Gemchurian. Water surrounded them, but it was very shallow. When Leo stepped onto the object it glowed pink, but the pink light started to shrink until it reached the center right beside Lion.

"This is some magic gem place isn't it?"Connie asked.

"Looks about right."Leo said.

Leo walked toward the center and inspected the glowing beam of light. It was a pedestal with a hand print, in the palm was a symbol…one he knew very well.

"One, Lion…I know this is practically my job-but could it have _not_ waited; and two, why the hell is my insignia on here?"Leo asked.

"Insignia?"Connie asked.

"Look here, at my shield."Leo brought up his arm as his shield formed.

"See, right there; and it's on this pedestal why could it-"Leo stopped.

"Leo, is something wrong?"Connie asked.

"This is my mother's doing isn't it?"Leo asked.

"Mother?"Connie asked.

"Ha-ha, of course it is why wouldn't it be?! It's not like she could have told me about this, not like she left anything behind to help me understand a damn thing! NO, SHE JUST HAD TO LEAVE WITHOUT EVEN SAYING HELLO!"Leo slammed his fist on the pedestal, he sighed.

"Leo, are you alright?"Connie inched closer to him.

"No, I'm not. Let's just see what's in here."Leo said as he pressed his hand against the pedestal.

The platform glowed pink again, Leo tried to do something, but it seemed like his arm was stuck. He thought of many things, try to trigger something.

"This was a waste of time."Leo said as Connie poked him in the side.

"What are you doing?"Leo asked.

"Trying to help."She said as she continued to prod Leo with her fingers.

She eventually found a trigger when he pressed his nose and a row of laser light cannons appeared. Next she poked his side and around them appeared a dozen or two different pieces of armor. As Connie continued her assault on Leo, they found numerous other hidden devices; something that looked like a torture device, a set of axes and…a penny?

"Does that mean it costs more?"Connie asked.

"Probably not."Leo said.

"Huh, weird."Connie said.

"Look, we're wasting time. This stuff can wait; let's just get to the movies."Leo said as the pedestal shut down and he finally freed his hand.

"Are you sure?"Connie asked.

"One hundred percent."He answered.

Leo walked over to the Lion as he was lying down on his side. "Lion, I want out of here, now."Leo said.

Lion stood up and looked at Leo for a good 15 seconds before lowering his back letting the both of them on. Leo got on first as Connie got on second, while on, Lion opened up another portal and ran through it. Connie looked at Leo however, they've been friends for a month or two by now but she's never seen him act this way. Not that a month old friend would know, but it just seemed odd and out of character for him to break out into a yell. What was that about his mother? Why would she not say hello? Who even _was_ Leo's mother? Connie had a feeling it wasn't one of the gems, so who could it have been? She sighed, their friendship was still new, and she didn't want to break it now by asking some heavy question Leo obviously had a little resentment for. So she remained silent, and so did he. As Lion appeared next to the theater, the both of them hopped off.

"She couldn't exist with me being born, y'know."Leo said.

"Excuse me?"Connie asked.

"I saw the way you looked at me, you're wondering what I meant, why I burst out like that. Well it's because I never knew my mother. It's complex and annoying to find the logic in it but I'll summarize it. My mother couldn't birth me without giving up her gemstone, meaning she couldn't exist with me. And if she tried to keep her gemstone, it'd result in my probable death. So in order for me to live, she gave up her physical form to let me live. I never got to know my mother, but it seems like everyone around me did. It's frustrating, not getting to know someone…when they're supposed to be the closest person to you. Hell, I am my own mother if you think about it. I can't tell if I hate her, or I love her. It's a slippery slope that I don't know which way down."

Connie looked at him; she had no words….but she did have action. She hugged him, a genuine hug. She couldn't begin to understand the pressures that could create.

"Thanks, it was unnecessary….but thanks."Leo said.

"You're welcome."Connie said.

"Come on, we have a movie to watch."Connie nodded.

"Alright."

 **Yay, character development! Anyway, hoped you liked it. See you next update.**


	13. Cortana-WBC

**Okay, like I said last time, this will be a W.B.C. so here you go.**

 _Recorded File of: Halsey, Cortana F_

 _The Following Document is classified for only tier 2 and lower operatives and staff of the Office of Naval Intelligence. Any breach in security will lead to an immediate court marshal._

 _Bio:_

 _Daughter to former Director Leonard L. Church and tier 1 scientist Catherine Halsey, Cortana was raised alongside Dr. Halsey's other daughter, Miranda Keys. Growing up to a military father and scientist mother drove her to become just like them. Unlike her step-sister who took the U.N.S.C. route, she took to her mother's profession and began O.N.I. training at the age of 18. With a great enough IQ she could have been a great scientist, however the call for adventure was more alluring so she became a field agent. Cortana has been on countless missions headed by O.N.I. and is one of the better field agents currently at disposal. Cortana is also in league with the Spartan-II and Spartan-III programs. As a training teacher and partner to the Spartan, she preferably favors the aid and company of Sierra-117, leader of Blue Team. She is currently to be stationed on the inner colony Reach, alongside many of the Spartan-II's and Spartan-III's._

 _Skill:_

 _Cortana is skilled in a range of abilities. She is a master at persuasion and wet work; she is also a gifted technician able to break through any firewall presented to her. She is a notable marksman when it comes to Rifles, and can also handle alien weaponry with great proficiency._

 _Career:_

 _Assassination of Reach Insurrectionist leader_

 _Sabotage….._

The word bar continued to blink, waiting for the next words to be typed out on the document. The woman behind the screen sighed and rubbed her eyelids.

"Getting tired already? Age must be getting to you."A woman appeared from the door.

"Oh yes, way to entertain yourself."The older woman said as she pushed aside the work for later.

"So what they have you working on mom?"She asked.

"They wanted me to update you document in my down time. I was highly opposed to it, but I did it because their arguing was getting pointless."Catherina yawned once again.

"Well, from the looks of it, you're gonna push it off for later. How about I drive you home, you look like you need sleep."Cortana said.

"Yes, that'd be great."Catherine stood up from her chair and proceeded to gather her things.

After Catherine did, she and Cortana walked out of the building, passing a few members of security and other scientists or agents. The night was clear, no clouds in the sky and the moon was at its fullest and at its highest.

"Pretty nice out tonight."Cortana admired.

"Yes, something nice to put up on a wall?"She asked.

"Just maybe."Cortana said.

"Well, let's go."Catherine said.

They both got into Catherine's vehicle and drove off, it was a silent ride back…at least it was until Cortana spoke up.

"Have you spoken to Leo lately?"She asked.

"Leo? Why would you ask that?"Catherine asked.

"I don't know, it just seems like you never talk to him. I've spoken with him a week or two ago, he talked all about how he saw Amethyst and Pearl fusing, about this new friend he made at the bottom of the ocean, and how he's going on actual missions with the Gemchurians."

"Really now? How surprising."She said.

"I bet it'd make him really happy if you talked to him; y'know, for old times' sake."Cortana said.

"I suppose one call couldn't hurt. But not now, it's late and I bet he's asleep. To be frank, I'm about to fall asleep as well." Catherine yawned again.

"I bet."Cortana said.

"So, how's John. I haven't heard from him in a while."Cortana said.

"He's doing well, Blue Team just as well."Catherine said.

"That sounds great."Cortana said.

Catherine noticed the slight smile on her lips; she decided to experiment a little, "He's told me working with Sera has improved, might take it out for more missions later."She

"Oh, good, I guess."Cortana frowned, Catherine got her results.

"You seem less than eager to hear about news between Sera and John."Catherine noted.

"I have no idea what you mean."Cortana said.

"Are you sure? It seems like I hear a twinge of jealousy in your voice."Catherine said.

"It's not jealousy."Cortana said.

"Oh, than what is it?"Catherine smirked.

"I just-I just don't like S.R.A.-04332, she just rubs me wrong."Cortana said.

"Jealousy."Catherine said again.

"I'm not jealous of some A.I."Cortana said.

"You know, it's commonly known that A.I. and Spartan share their darkest secrets."Catherine said.

"Okay, now you're just making that up. I know John better than anyone."Cortana said.

"Oh I'm sure you do, I'm sure you do."Catherine chuckled.

"I hate you sometimes."

"And I love you all the time."Catherine smiled.

"Aw, how genuine."

"Don't get used to it."

"I never do."

They both started to laugh a little; it was these small moments in between work that cemented their Mother-Daughter relationship. When both of them worked for a less than respectable government program, they could only squeeze in so many moments of glee into their routine. The rest of the ride was filled with a comfortable silence as Cortana drove Catherine to her home. As Cortana parked her car into the driveway Catherine put her arm on her shoulder.

"Thank you, for the conversation….and the ride too."Catherine said.

"Any day."She said.

Catherine gave her a hug before she exited and entered her home. The next day she returned back to the office, her files on hand and the document pulled up. She sighed, she needed some coffee.

 **Honestly, this chapter was hard to write. Didn't really know what to put in this so I slowly turned it into how Cortana and Catherine interact as mother and daughter. Truthfully this is one of the shorter chapter in this story, making just around 1k words, which I much too indifferent about. Anyway, hoped you liked it, and adios.**


	14. Rehabilitation

Expanded Universe

Leo gathered a bag of cookies and walked to the door to the temple. With it open he walked from the pink cloud room that once belonged to his mother to the furnace room that belonged to Garnet. With the essentials in hand he sat down and pulled a bubble closer to himself, it was pink with a black circle and band stretching around the gem.

"So, how you doing; bet it's pretty cozy, wait, what is it like being bubbled?"Leo asked, knowing he wouldn't get an answer to it.

"Whatever, so, this last mission we were on was pretty crazy-"The words faded out as the gem slowly absorbed the information.

In the void that was its shattered mind, it slowly remembered the day these two met. Long ago, maybe a month or two actually.

 _Flashback_

The Crystal Gems were in the snowy peaks of the Himalayans; there they fought a large snow beast. This snow beast was no abominable snowman, but a Corrupted Gemchurian.

"One more hit should do it!"Leo said as the Snow beast fell backwards to the wall creating a large crack.

"I don't think this place is gonna hold much longer!"Amethyst said, noticing the falling icicles.

"Just one more!"Leo said as he tossed his shield at the Snow beast, shattering its physical form, and leaving it in its gem.

"There we go!"Leo said as he walked up to the gem and bubbled it.

"Let's get outta here."Leo said.

Before they could however, their path to the Warp Pad was blocked by the icicles.

"Crap!"Leo said.

"We have to get Leo out of here!"Pearl said.

"Pearl I got this I can just-hey hey!"Leo was interrupted by Garnet picking him up.

"You'll be safe until we get back to the temple, hold on!"Garnet shouted over the roar of the falling cave.

"Garnet, no!"Pearl said, too late as Garnet sent Leo to the temple.

"Watch your head."Garnet said as the cave fell in on them.

Meanwhile, Steven finally felt what it was like being teleported to the temple in a bubble. It felt like crap and made him feel like he needed to hurl.

"Ugh, that's the last…and only time, I let someone bubble me to the temple."Leo said.

He checked his surroundings; he was in fact in Garnets room, floating along side of the other corrupted Gems.

"Well, I need out of here, don't want to be in here for the next thousand years."Leo joked as he tried poking at the bubble.

"How do I even get out of here?"Leo asked.

He started punching it, harder, and harder until it burst making him fall.

"Whoa!"Leo said as he reached for anything to stop his fall.

Luckily he grabbed onto something that something only lasted him long enough to decrease his speed and fall rather injury free. _Unluckily_ that something was a bubbled Gem, and it too had popped from its confinement.

"Oh no."Leo said as the Gem fell.

The Gem itself started to rise from the ground and shine, it was reforming itself. As it formed a basic human body, it's 'hair' grew and it started screeching. It grew some 10 arms on each side and soon formed one of Leo's earliest monster battles: the Centipeetle.

"Oh no not again!"Leo said as he pushed himself to his feet and raised his shield.

Instead, the Centipeetle screeched once again and shrunk to the size of a small dog. It started pacing around where it reformed, shaking and salivating acid. It wasn't hard to tell that the Centipeetle was scared. It was natural instinct to be wary of an environment that is an unknown.

"Well, that's a difference."Leo said as he stood up and walked closer to the Centipeetle.

The Centipeetle as well started backing up, probably fearful of its own life.

"You aren't that scary aren't you? You're like a very nerve wrecked cat, except you spit out acid."Leo squatted in front of the Centipeetle, seeing it was still shaking.

He felt a little sorry for it, maybe a little bit more-

"Leo!"Leo turned around to see that the gems returned.

"I knew this was a bad idea!"Garnet jumped in between him and the Centipeetle while Pearl and Amethyst jumped to Leo's side.

"Are you hurt? So help me if it did!"Pearl said.

"Hey hey, calm down you three."Leo pushed up and grabbed one of Garnets arms.

"I'm fine, nothing bad is going down. It's just scared, see?"Leo pointed towards the Centipeetle as it back further into the corner.

"It's still a corrupted Gem; we have to put it in a bubble."Pearl said.

"Not necessarily, you said that Rose was never to heal a corrupted, I believe now is a chance we can test it."Leo said.

"Test it?"Amethyst asked.

"I wanna see just how corrupted these monsters are. For future reference, to create a basis to help other corrupted gems."Leo said.

"But-"

"Pearl, we have a chance here to create progress on them. They've been stuck like that for probably centuries, I think it is time we investigate into the matter."Leo said.

"He does have a point."Garnet said.

"What?"Pearl said.

"Some of these may be our former colleagues, I agree with Leo."Garnet put away her gauntlets.

"Are you sure Garnet?"Pearl asked.

Garnet nodded.

"To the beach."Leo said.

It took a lot of coercion on Leo's side to bring the Centipeetle onto the beach, but it worked. Leo found it a little odd though; he felt sorrow when he looked at the Centipeetle. He brushed it aside; he needed to get to work. As he walked up to the Centipeetle, it backed up. Leo turned around to see the others with their weapons drawn and ready to pounce.

"Hey, guys, I don't think it's gonna work if you are ready to jump it at the slightest sign of attacking me. Go to the house, I'll be sure to be careful."Leo said.

"No, that is not-"

"Leo has this, we go inside."Garnet said.

"Whoa! Shut down by the 'G'!"Amethyst said, Pearl only huffed in opposition.

Leo watched as they left and turned his attention back towards the Centipeetle, it seemed visually less nervous as signaled by its mane (?) lowering and relaxing.

"They scared you, huh? Well, I guess you do have the right to, they _did_ beat you and bubble you."Leo said.

"So, time we start."Leo raised his left arm and brought up a TacPad he had.

"Therapy session 001, current patient, the Centipeetle; after un-bubbling it after a mission, I have taken it upon myself to make progress on the corrupted gems that remain in Garnets room. Currently, Centipeetle seems more lax, could be because of the lack of the Crystal Gems. Future note: Crystal Gem involvement in therapy sessions should only be reserved for security and said security should be kept out of sight." Leo looked backed toward the Centipeetle, it stared back.

"My first attempts at healing the Gemchurian are to incite a conversation. Results have proven only slightly beneficial as the Centipeetle takes to my presence better than the Crystal Gems. However, my presence isn't good enough. If I want to continue, I'd need to create a better relationship and create a sense of ease and comfort. So, grabbing the nearest treat from my cabinet, I have a bag of candy with me. If the Centipeetle takes well to it, it may create that relationship faster."Leo pulled the bag out.

"Let's hope this works."Leo says.

"Hey, you want one?"Leo asks, it gurgles back to him.

"They're pretty good, pretty chewy, just hard enough, and they come in plenty of colors and flavors…kinda."Leo grabs a handful and gulfs it down.

"They're pretty good."Leo shakes the bag.

The Centipeetle looks at the bag, and slowly it walks over. As it did, Leo pulled out another handful of candy to give it.

"You'll have to come closer to eat it."Leo said.

Finally, the Centipeetle was right in front of him, eyes on the candy in his hand.

"Oh, you want this? I guess."He lowers his palm to drop the candy in Centipeetles mouth.

It gladly chomped away and dissolved it with the acid.

"Good good, it seems Centipeetle has taken to the treat. Now, its mind will connect me to pleasant feelings."Leo said.

Leo gave it more candy.

"Leo, we need to talk!"Pearl yelled from the house.

"Hm, alright. It seems our first session is over. Now I need a good place to put you."Leo said.

"Hm, follow me."Leo said.

Leo walked back up to the house; there the gems were currently discussing their recent mission.

"We have to go back for the shooting star."Pearl said.

"I'm down for it but, uh, how are we gonna do it without collapsing the entire cave?"Amethyst asked.

"Going back out again?"Leo asked.

"Yes, we still haven't retrieved what we were looking for and we don't know a way to get through withoooooooooo-what is that still doing walking around?"Pearl asked, pointing towards Centipeetle.

I looked down towards Centipeetle and it looked back at me, slowly the cogs in my head were moving.

" _That_ is going to help us get the shooting star."Leo said.

"What?"Amethyst asked, not getting it.

"We can use Centipeetles acid as a means to creating a path without making the cave collapse."

"That's outr-"

"Let's try it."Garnet said.

Pearl looked at her, she was not amused.

"Shut down again by-"

"Oh be quiet you."Pearl said.

Leo smiled at the Centipeetle, if things continued to go this smoothly he thought, 'How bad can this go?'.

It took them some time before they reached back to where they left off. Centipeetle took well to taking the commands Leo gave, maybe it could have some use on the battlefield. Leo saved that for another time, he was doubtful that being put into battle was very efficient to healing the corrupted gem.

"We're almost there."Pearl said.

"Alright Centipeetle, gonna need you to spit again. This time, I'll double the candy."Leo said.

Centipeetle immediately spit at the wall, creating a sizeable hole to fit all of them through.

"Here you go, you earned it."Leo said as he gave it the rest of the bag.

"Are you sure it will obey if it doesn't have any more treats?"Pearl asked.

"Don't worry, I'll compensate for it back at the temple."Leo said.

"Well we probably won't need to; it's right beyond this crack."Pearl said.

"Alright, everyone through."Leo said.

The room was pretty big; stalactites littered the roof of the room while a basin in the middle shown off what was probably the shooting star.

"Alright, let's grab this thing and get out."Leo said.

"Not so fast, the Shooting Star is extremely hot. Even saying it doesn't portray how hot it is. The only way it can be moved is if Garnet holds it in her gauntlets."Pearl said.

Garnet nodded and summoned her gauntlets, as she did the Centipeetle let out a terrified shriek. All eyes turn towards the Centipeetle, whose eyes were on Garnets gauntlets.

"Something's wrong."Garnet said as the Centipeetle back up.

"Hey hey whoa, calm down!"Leo tried to comfort it.

The Centipeetle didn't take to it as it opened its jaw wide and spit out acid across the ceiling. The stalactites started falling; some of them landed in the pool of water the Shooting Star creating a burst of steam to erupt out and make the room shake.

"I knew bringing that thing was a bad idea!"Pearl hopped to action, making the Centipeetle shriek.

"Pearl stop!"Leo yelled.

Leo was too late, as Pearl hit it towards the other end of the room, creating a crack in the wall.

"Pearl stop!"Leo ran in between Pearl and the Centipeetle.

He was about to pick up the Centipeetle when Garnet came by and punted it across the room.

"Guys, not helping!"Leo said.

Centipeetle stood back up though, as it did, Pearl and Amethyst stood in front of it. Amethyst used her whip to bring Centipeetle closer, it ended up pushing all three gems back against the wall. Centipeetle stood again, ready to fight.

"Hey hey hey! Wait, stop!"Leo ran in front of it.

"Look, c'mon, you're better than this. Look at me; you aren't going to be hurt anymore. I promise."He put his hands on where its shoulders should be.

"Calm, be calm. I know you hurt but I won't. Calm, peaceful thoughts, candy thoughts."Leo said to the Centipeetle.

As he continued talking, he could see its mane start to settle down, it stopped trembling as well. Those were good signs.

"There you go, see was it-"He was interrupted by the gems.

"Leo!"They yelled he looked up; a giant stalactite came falling down.

Leo didn't move fast enough, but someone else did. Leo felt a push to his stomach as the stalactite came down penetrating Centipeetle.

"No!"Leo yelled.

Centipeetle shrieked in agony before quieting down and retreated into its gem. The gem came up to Leo's knees, unharmed.

"It…sacrificed itself to save you."Pearl said.

"Yeah, no thanks to you three."Leo sighed.

"I guess we'll have to find another time for them."Leo said.

"I bet we do."Garnet said.

"You know, funny thing is…I don't think mom ever got this far with a corrupted gem."Leo said.

"No, no she didn't."Garnet said.

Leo leaned forward and with two hands bubbled the gem and put sent it to the temple.

"Alright, let's get the thing and leave."Leo said.

The mission was successful, if anything. They got what they wanted, right? Leo felt a little indifferent on how it ended. Putting Centipeetle into a bubble back in Garnets room seemed the better idea. But he couldn't help shake the fact that he swore he heard 'I'm sorry.' just as Centipeetle got crushed by the stalactite.

 _Present Day_

"Well, once again I have to end our session. I have things to do and people to talk with. It was nice talking again, I look forward to the day you return to your old form."Leo said as he left.

The gem watched as Leo left the room, waiting for the day to finally meet for the first time, again.

 **OH MY FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! IF YOU'VE WATCHED THE PROMOS YOU KNOW HOW EXCITED I AM FOR THE NEW EPISODES! EXCITEMENT LEVEL IS PRACTICALLY BREAKING RIGHT NOW! Holy shit, okay, time to calm down. We must wait, all will be revealed by the end of the month…..hopefully.**


	15. Agent Carolina-WBC

Expanded Universe

 **Many Years Ago**

"We have a volunteer."A rugged middle-aged man entered the room with a file.

"Volunteer? We don't except volunteers."The woman said.

"Well, this one wants in, whether you want it or not. She said, and I quote, "I don't care what you have to do, I want to be stronger. I know you can give me that, Mendez."."Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez repeated.

"Wait, you're not-"

"Yep, Church's daughter, seems like she has a bit of a grudge."He told Catherine.

"How did she-?"Catherine stopped; she didn't give the girl enough credit.

"She's seen the files; she might be a little older than some of the others."Mendez said.

"I'm not putting Leonard's daughter into the Spartan-II program."Halsey said.

"I'm not telling you."Halsey raised her head and looked at the door.

There stood the 8 year old girl, long red hair, brilliant green eyes. Those same eyes were also filled with weeks of crying and anger.

"I want into the program."She said.

"You're only a child, you can't poss-"

"So are they, even younger. You won't deny me this. You _can't_ deny me this."Carolina said.

"You aren't even capable of the augmentations, something the others will have to go through."

"I don't care! I'll train harder, work harder than all the others. Fight stronger, fight faster, I don't care!"Carolina said.

"She does have the resolve."Mendez remarked.

"What reason do you have for even going through this program?"Halsey asked.

"Because they took away my mom, and I want to get back at those…aliens. I want payback."Carolina said.

"We don't necessarily have to give her the same augmentations; I have some ideas that can work out for her."Mendez said.

"If you do this, you won't come out the same…you know this, correct?"Halsey said.

"Of course."Carolina responded.

"And how does your father feel about this?"She asked.

"He's probably mourning still."Carolina said.

Mendez and Halsey looked at each other, he smirked.

"Alright, we'll see how this goes."Halsey said.

"I'll inform Church."Mendez said.

 **On Reach**

John woke up again; it was early, like every time he woke up. He headed into the classroom, like every day, and sat in his seat. He watched as everyone piled into their seats as well. However, this time he noticed something new or rather, someone new. She had cropped hair, like everyone else, and big green eyes. John was no scientist or anything, but even he could tell that this girl was something different. No one acknowledged her presence, neither Mendez nor Halsey. She sat in the back, learning, watching, and continued to do so for the rest of their study time.

When they were let off to eat, John sat with his friends: Linda, Kelly, and Fred.

"Did you notice?"John asked.

"How can you not? Mendez said there were only going to be 75 of us, now we have a 76th. That really doesn't count up."Fred said as he looked in the direction of the new girl.

"What do you think brought her here than?"Kelly asked.

"Maybe he read the name sheet wrong?"Linda proposed.

"There's only one way to find out, I'm gonna talk to her."John stood up and walked to her.

She sat alone and ate her food rather quickly, so when John sat in front of her she noticed him.

"Hello."John greeted.

"What do you want?"She asked.

"I just want to know you. You see, there are only supposed to be 75 of us."John said.

"And?"

"Well, you're 76. You see where something went wrong?"John asked.

"Nothing went wrong, I came here on purpose."She said.

John was taken back a little, from what he knew, they were all drafted. But this girl optionally came, he was pretty shocked.

"But….why?"John asked.

"None of your business."She said.

"Well, can I get your name? My name is John."John asked.

She looked at him, "My name is Carolina."

"Well, good to meet you Carolina."John gave out his hand.

"Yeah, good for you."She stood up and walked off toward.

John watched as she walked off and frowned, what was her problem?

 **Year later**

"You ready?"Catherine asked.

"After all the training you put me through, this won't even beat the wilderness mission."Carolina said as she lied down on the table.

"That was your first mission."Catherine said.

"The first is always the worst, they say."Carolina said.

Catherine sighed; she was dreading the day Carolina would be put into augmentation, "We still have no idea if you'll come out of this alive."

"Good, the less you know the more I can tell myself this will all work out in the end."Carolina said.

"You aren't making this easier Carolina."

"I don't want this to be easy."

"I won't be responsible for what happens."Catherine said finally.

"Just start."Carolina said.

Catherine looked at the other scientists and nodded, "Tell me when the procedure is over."

Catherine exited the room and was halfway across the hallway when she started hearing the screaming, the absolute pain that Carolina was in. Catherine had to go out for a while. Outside she was met with the Spartans that were already finished with their procedures, John was one of them.

"How is she?"Linda asked.

"Only time will tell, for now, we can do nothing but wait."Catherine said as she walked pass them.

The rest of the Spartans looked at each other with worry. Carolina wasn't necessarily able to receive the enhancements, but she was too eager to get them, it could cost her life. They all dispersed, they'll have to see tomorrow if she was alright or not.

 **Next day**

Carolina felt like hell, her body hurt, nothing felt right, she couldn't even stand up correctly.

"How are you doing?"She looked beside her to see Mendez and Catherine.

"I feel awful."She said.

"She's good."Mendez said.

"Just...err, get me out off this thing."Carolina said.

"Give it a few more hours, than you can stand."Catherine said.

"I've been lying here for too long, I'm getting up."Carolina said.

"Don't push yourself."Mendez recommended.

Slowly, Carolina sat straight up. Her arms shook and her legs felt like paste. But that didn't stop her. She carefully put both her feet on the ground and let the feeling settle in. Once again, she slowly pushed off the table and stood up. She was a lot taller, taller than Mendez and Catherine.

"Can I get a mirror?"She asked.

"Here you go, princess."Mendez said as he handed her a hand mirror.

Carolina grabbed it and saw her reflection, she looked older. Like somewhere around 18, when she was only 16. Her muscles grew exponentially but just enough to match her frame. Her skin looked noticeably paler.

"Done looking at yourself; we need to talk."Mendez said.

"Yeah, what do you need?"Carolina said.

"It's about the augmentations, we knew this might have been a problem but-"

"Just spit it out."Carolina said.

"You aren't good enough."Catherine said.

"What?"Carolina asked.

"The augmentations didn't work as well for you as the others, I warned you but you didn't listen."

"How am I not good enough? I'm the fastest, the strongest-the _best_."Carolina said.

"No, you aren't. Look Carolina, you're lucky to be alive, the augmentations could have killed you."Mendez said.

"I don't care, I'm able to fight."Carolina said.

"You might be, but you aren't going to be with the others."

"What?"Carolina asked again.

"We're sending you to O.N.I., there you will be used better. You can even see your father again."Catherine said.

"You can't do this!"Carolina said.

"Yes, I can. The both of us decided on this, we just came to this conclusion when we read the results. You aren't ready Carolina. You'll be shipped out tomorrow."Catherine said before walking out.

Carolina stood there, dumbstruck. 4 years of intense training, learning, and experience…..gone. She curled her fist and slammed it into the nearest wall, creating a rather big crater.

"Look kid, it's for the best."Mendez said.

"Don't talk to me."Carolina said as she walked out.

Mendez sighed, "I knew this was a bad idea."

Carolina felt, she worse now; the goal she's work ever so hard for was slipping out from her hands. She couldn't have gone this far only to be stopped by some bullshit augments that didn't kick in for her. She heard a knock on the door in her room.

"I'm coming in, I hope you don't mind."The door opened to reveal John, the de facto leader of the Spartan-II's.

"I'm not barging in, am I?"He asked.

"No, no you're not."Carolina said as she pulled her knees to her chest.

"I heard where Halsey is going to send you, I will admit, it sounds a lot cushier than the battlefield."John said.

"I don't want a cushy job; I want what I'm owed."She said.

"Carolina, I know this isn't what you want to hear but you have to take it."John said.

"Why? Why would I give up the chance to fight those damn bastards and not get my revenge?"Carolina asked.

"Despite the off chance that the forces who were responsible for your mother's death still intact, you're the best of us Carolina. They need the best to look over Earth, to make sure that if it ever becomes a battle ground, it'll be in safe hands."Carolina looked away.

"Please Carolina…you won't regret it."John said as he stood up and left her room.

The nest day, Carolina's ride arrived. There she was, waiting for the bay door to open on the pelican.

"I hope you enjoy my going away present."She turned around to see Catherine.

"Going away present?"Carolina asked.

"When you arrive at O.N.I., you'll see. Just be careful out there, and I know you'll get what you want."Catherine finally said.

"Thank you."Carolina nodded before entering the pelican and flying off.

It took a while to get from Reach to Earth, in that time she pondered what Catherine could possibly be talking about. As she returned to Earth, she got used to her old cushy life and old bed. Her reunion with her father was heartfelt, and her position at O.N.I. was rather surprising.

"Field agent?"She asked.

"Yes, despite the slight augmentation failure, O.N.I. has decided to make you a field agent, Agent Carolina."Her C.O. explained.

"Thank you, sir."Carolina said.

"One more thing, I believe Dr. Halsey has something for you down in R&D. Go get it first and come right back to me."She was instructed.

So she went down to 'R&D', it took a while to find but thanks to one of the staff they pointed it out to her. She asked one of the developers about her package and proceeded to escort her.

"Now remember, it was specially designed for your use, and your use alone. So be careful with it, it's the only one of its kind."

Carolina stopped and looked at it; it was a Cyan colored MJLONIR armor system with armor pieces fit for her. She grabbed the helmet and rubber her thumb across the visor, she only had one question.

"Are you going to show me how to put it on?"She asked.

 **Present**

Her thumb rubbed across the visor, the helmet looked damage in a lot of ways, but not broken.

"So, how long until it is fixed?"Carolina asked.

"In a day, don't worry Agent Carolina; we'll get it fixed in no time."The R&D member said.

"Take your time; I'll be off for a while."Carolina said.

"Sure thing Carolina, I'll get right on that."The man said as he chuckled away.

With permission for leave, Carolina thought what better way to relax…than at a beach. Preferably, Beach City.


	16. How We Met-WBC

Expanded Universe

 **How we met**

It was a bright and sunny day in Beach City, with such good weather, why waste it? So, Leo and his friends took to the beach have fun. It was a fantastic time, but it was times like these he always looked back to how slowly, but surely, they came together as a group of friends.

 **Many years ago**

 _Lazy and Nerdy_

Grif and Simmons always came in a pair, they have since they were kids. When word got around that the war in the outer colonies were getting closer and closer to the inner colonies, both their families (being ever close) decided to move to Earth; far away from any of the fighting and safe in UEG space. Being set into a new environment, the duo made it to a new school. By chance they met Sam or, what many called him, Sarge. With an eager newbie and a lazy bastard under his wing, it was only a matter of time before Sarge invited the two to meet his friend, Leo Church.

 _Sweet?_

Franklin Donut was born with only a mother and a sister; with his father gone he took to his feminine side much more than his masculinity. However that isn't important. Like many other concerned families (especially being one of the furthest inner colonies from Earth) the Donut family turned towards Earth in case of any unneeded stress from the war. Arriving at Earth was a delicate process that took many weeks. On Earth, it was during a shopping trip with his sister he bumped into the Red team trio. After dinner at his mother's new house, Donut silently made his way into the group. However, many still silently question how he ever found their group spot.

 _Cookies and Strawberries_

The Xiao-Long, Rose, and Branwen families are as complicated as the Church family, maybe even more. After Tai-Yang's divorce with Raven Branwen, and the death of Summer Rose, Tai-Yang needed to get his daughters out of the increasing insurrectionist zone that was there small settlement in Reach. Being a single farmer and a former war veteran, Tai-Yang had put his skill to use as a private military instructor. One day, Ruby and Yang set out for a nice coffee shop. Coincidentally, after a spilled coffee or two, they were met with Weiss and Blake. It was a meeting of opposites, but with some apologies and similar interest between Blake and Ruby, the two duos hit it off.

 _Fluent in Alien_

Lavernius Tucker was stuck; he kept to his place on Earth, but frequently stared into the night sky, wanting to learn what else was out there. Being born on Tantalus and raised on Earth, Lavernius Tucker was satisfied with what he had around him. However he had a knack for alien life and how they acted. During a visit to a new club he hadn't been to, he met up with Yang Xiao-Long. After a failed attempt to flirt with her and a few too many strawberry sunrises Yang sneaked in, Yang and Tucker became drunk buddies (despite his mothers anger). During their second trip, he met Leo Church, and after talking about his want to learn about alien culture, Leo set him up with enough to get him by. With it, Tucker found a life calling.

 _Best Friend_

Michael J. Caboose was probably the dumbest person Leo had ever had the displeasure of meeting. Being born in the Jovian moons of Jupiter, Caboose had birth problems seeing as he was born on a planet with less oxygen that was needed for a baby. But baby Caboose persevered and grew up. His IQ however was another story, his was on some sort of level lower than the most stupid person to ever live or be alive. With this, his family sent him to Earth where he could hopefully be taught to be smarter. It was after a midnight stroll that Caboose found himself lost. Walking into the next town, he bumped in Leo Church. Living in the Church house for a day, Caboose grew a bond with Leo. With permission, Caboose was able to visit Leo; this would later cause much grief to Leo.

 _Ice Queen_

Weiss Schnee was the heiress to a massive company owned by her father, Eis Schnee. Her family was destined for great things, her sister was a rising O.N.I. agent, her mother was an amazing model, her father owned a company of course, but Weiss….she strived for a simple life. Being born in the higher echelon of Reach, Weiss was accustomed to many strict rules. So when she came to the age where she decided for herself, she left to a well known school on Earth, far from her family. With a name that weighed so much, it was a matter of time before suitors came barging into her life. Being flooded by a crowd on a lone hill beside a lighthouse, it was none other than Leo Church that sent the mob away. She expected some pay, but was met with invitations to just….chill out. She was not amused with the joke.

 _Shotgun Contingency_

Sam R. Gauge was born in rural Alabama on Earth. His father, Lopez, was a military sergeant. Admiring his father's patriotism, he wished to follow his footsteps and become a sergeant too. It was after a visit Beach City that Sarge encountered a corrupted gem monster. But it was the Crystal Gems that saved him; Leo Church put himself into the fray just to keep Sarge alive. With his life saved, Sarge has made it a mission to repay his life debt to Leo Church. Sarge has been one of Leo's longest friends, and was the one who started naming their _teams_ red and blue.

 **Okay so, I got a little carried away with this one. It may not look like it but this one and the next WBC were gonna be only about the different teams. This one was gonna be red team, the next blue team. But I forgot and did all of them so I left it at this. It may not be great but it makes good filler and background bio. Anyway, can't wait for the Summer of Steven, it looks so good. Another thing I did while writing this was listening to a lot of these guys' themes songs. For Grif and Simmons I listened to "How Voting Works", for Donut I listened to his musical, Ruby and Yang's was "Gold", Tuckers "Bow Chicka Bow Wow", Caboose was of course "Your Best Friend", for Weiss it was her "Mirror Mirror" parts 1 and 2, and finally for Sarge it was "Sarge's Blues". Anyway, actual story starts tomorrow.**


	17. What Lies Beyond

**Fair warning when you start reading (if you care about atmosphere) you might wanna load a tab with the Dead Space 2 original score Lacrimosa set it around 5:33 when I say so, you'll get it. Feel free to stop whenever you want.**

Expanded Universe

Leo lied in bed, flipping a coin in the air. He was contemplative at the moment, the Gems were out on a mission and he had nothing to do. He would have joined them, but Garnet said that it was in a place that was less that hospitable than his human attributes. It was something that happened often when it came to missions; some excuse or another would prevent him from those missions and leave him home alone. He hated that, just because he fit for one mission didn't mean he could do something productive. Whenever he tried to press them on letting him do a solo mission like Garnet, they instantly denied it. Once again, Leo hated that. He could be as effective as Garnet could in a solo-op. It was one of the many things Leo couldn't stand with the Gems. They coddled him too much, he wasn't a child.

The warp pad sounded, the Gems were back.

"We're back!"Amethyst sang.

"Yo."Leo said.

"Hello Leo, how are you doing?"Pearl asked.

"The same."Leo said as he continued to flip the coin.

"Wanna see what we gotcha?"Amethyst pulled out some sort of obelisk, around her size.

"It's a Wailing Stone."Garnet explained.

"Yes, what it does is-"Pearl was about to explain.

"THIS!"Amethyst said as she slammed her fist onto the Wailing Stone.

As she did, it created a screeching sound, like a wail. It made Leo flinch and cause the coin to fall on his face. His TV broke, and his windows almost shattered. Pearl was able to reach it and turn it, however the damage was done.

"Amethyst what did I tell you about turning on the Wailing Stone?"Pearl asked condescendingly.

"Relax P no one got hurt, and Leo like it; right Leo?"Amethyst turned towards him.

Leo frowned, "Look, can I just get some room you guys, just for a little bit?"

Leo sighed, that was before something started shining. He looked downwards, it was his gem. The Temple door was shining as well, but somewhere more important, Rose's room. Leo walked towards it, as he came up to it, it opened.

"Rose's room."Pearl gasped.

"I'm heading inside."Leo said.

"What?"Amethyst asked.

"I'm going in; I'll be back in a little bit."He said as he walked towards it.

"Leo, wait!"Pearl made a grab for him, but it was too late.

His vision was engulfed in white before it cleared away; when it did all he could see was pink, to be more specific, pink clouds.

"Whoa."Leo said.

The room was blank, no floor, no roof, just and endless sea (or sky rather) of pink clouds. He started walking, nothing changed, and nothing looked different. It felt kinda like in a video game where you kept walking forward but couldn't tell if there was an invisible wall or not. It felt like that, moving but not actually making progress.

"It feels….empty, in here."Leo remarked.

He reached for a cloud, but it felt just out of reach. He moved closer, once again, out of reach.

"What is up with this room? Is it just for meditation? No library? No archive? Not even a bed-AH!"Leo tripped and fell face first into, a bed?

"What the-"It appeared out of nowhere.

"Was that…me?"Leo questioned.

"Um...Battle rifle?"He said wearily.

Sure enough, one fell into his hands. It felt genuine, right out of the factory, smooth, correct weight as well. He aimed it and pulled the trigger, sure enough, the gun fired.

"Whoa, this room is unbelievable."Leo said.

He had an idea, it's time he put the room to its limit.

"Alright room, how aboooout…..a recreation of the entire house?"As he finished, not that far away was his home.

He walked into it, everything was there. The center was the living room, kitchen, and dining room. To his left was a door that lead to his room, computers lined furthest wall, his bed was placed in the center of the room, and his closet was just to his right. He exited and went to the back of the house, and like his room, the entrance to the temple was completely the same.

"Alright, that might be cool; but what about a bag of chips?"In his hand, a bag of chips suddenly appeared.

"Nice."He plucked a chip from the bag and tried to eat it, to explode into clouds before he could though.

Leo sighed and flopped onto his bed. He closed his eyes, lying in comfort.

"You aren't that bad room, the pink clouds and almost making everything real….it's so cool. This can't be a bad thing, I mean, what's the worst thing a room like you could do?"Leo asked rhetorically, but the room didn't take it that way.

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. Not literally, but…how it felt. Leo opened his eyes, the sky wasn't pink anymore…it was orange, like a fire. He sat up; beneath him was some sort of dirt. The land in front of him was….it was horrid.

 ***Play Lacrimosa-Dead Space 2***

' _What the fuck?_ 'Leo swore.

His heart beat faster; in front of him was a mass grave. Bodies littered the field, all looked humanoid, and all of them wore armor that he had never seen before.

"This won't get any better."He looked up to his right.

It was a massive figure, maybe 10 feet tall, maybe 12.

"This is why we must use it; the humans can repay us for what they caused."A masculine voice urged.

"No, it is too unethical."A feminine voice to the side of the other spoke.

"You believe that if we let go of our responsibility that things will be better?"The man (?) asked.

"We've had our time, now it is up to the humans to obtain it."The woman (?) spoke.

"What will happen to us when the weapon is fired?"Another feminine voice asked, this one felt more….familiar, yet he never heard it.

"The abomination cannot feed on you; therefore you will be safe from its blast."The other woman spoke.

"Good."

"That weapon will _not_ fire, I can deal with this menace if I-"

"We will let the others decide when we convene. Farewell, Diamond."The woman spoke.

"To you as well, let us hope this matter is resolved quickly. Come Rose Quartz, we have things to attend to."The figure that waved towards him moved, he tried to as well but he was stuck.

' _What the, let me go!_ 'He tried to yell.

 ***5:33***

A low roar sounded off in the distance, suddenly many of the dead bodies started to rise. They looked, disfigured. Their faces stuck in absolute horror, some looked liked they fused with their armor. More and more rose, as if possessed. Somehow his left arm rose itself with his shield, and his right arm held a sword he had never seen. It was very generic looking but that wasn't the point. The bodies turned towards him, all of them…and like spark they ran. They ran at ridiculously fast speeds, in a wave that was bigger than any he had ever seen. His body willed itself to run and fight when his mind wanted to run. His sword arm ran the blade through as many of the things it could, but there was too many, more and more came his way and he couldn't stop it. He bashed the skulls of many of them with his shield while he cut them into two's with his sword. But it was only a matter of time before he was over whelmed. They piled onto him, he tried to resist but they were too heavy.

"AAAAAAAGH!"He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Slowly, the bodies blocked his vision of the sky, darker and darker as it got the more he felt like he couldn't stand it.

"GAAAAAAAAH!"His head started to hurt, he couldn't understand, things were going too fast.

He brought himself into a compact position trying to protect him.

"I don't want this!"He yelled.

"What do you want?"The thousand of dead bodies asked in its own horrid and twisted way.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"Leo yelled.

Suddenly he was in a free fall, darkness developed around him and soon he was sent flying into a large object and landed on top of it.

"Leo!"He opened his eyes, as they settled in with the brightness he saw clearly.

"Pearl…..Amethyst?"He questioned.

"Leo, are you alright?"Pearl and Amethyst rushed to him.

He looked up, it was Garnet he fell on and who was holding him up. He pondered on the question, what he saw…it…..it just wasn't…..it just _wasn't_. Every fiber of his being refused to believe what happened in there _did_ happen…but it was so real.

"Leo?"

"I'm…I'm fine. Don't worry; I'm just a little dizzy. Being pushed out like that didn't feel that great."Leo chuckled.

He stood up, Garnet looked at him, and he sighed.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry. I just….I don't want to be treated like a child. I'm not a kid anymore; I've handled my fair share. I think it's time that you guys stop holding me back."Leo said.

"Do you….really think that way?"Pearl asked; Leo nodded.

"Garnet?"Pearl looked towards her.

"It's time we stop treating Leo like a child, he can choose whether or not he comes on missions with us that are within his suitable range. We won't stop you."Garnet said.

"Thanks, really."Leo said.

"You're a young man Leo; we should have been more considerate."Garnet said.

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna lie down in my junk."Amethyst said.

"Have you still not cleaned that place? How many times do I have to tell you, it's not safe?"Pearl said as she followed Amethyst into the temple.

"See you later, Leo."Garnet said.

"Ditto."Leo said.

Later that night, Leo lied on his bed. He flipped a coin in the air, he couldn't sleep. The things he saw was still fresh in his mind, he couldn't _un_ -see it. He flipped the coin again. His head hurt, things just….popped into his head and he couldn't tell what they were. He couldn't tell the gems, they'd freak out if they knew about this. More importantly, he didn't want O.N.I. to know about this. Especially O.N.I. He flipped the coin. The Office may be their primary benefactor, but that didn't mean Leo had any reserved feelings about them. He tossed to the coin in the air again. The things they'd do…..it wouldn't be helpful. He caught the coin in his palm.

"No one will know."Leo said as he looked towards the temple door from out his door.

"No one."


	18. Berserk

Expanded Universe

The Warp Pads light dissipated as Leo and the Gems arrived at their destination. It was a large tower made of pillars and shot a large beam into the sky. Leo looked around; U.N.S.C. marines stood guard around the perimeter. One came to us, his Assault Rifle in hand.

"Glad they finally sent ya'll."The marine said.

"Status update?"Leo asked.

"The tower has been emitting electro-magnetic pulses for the past 5 hours; it's been interfering with comms and all other means of communication."The marine said.

"Alright, you've done your job; tell you men to pull out. We have this under control."Leo said.

"Yes sir."He nodded and signaled the others to pack up and leave.

"That was rather quick of them to get here."Pearl said.

"The U.E.G. likes to look over Gemchurian temples and such while we're not around. Makes sure that no wanderer steps onto something he'd rather not. So, what is this thing?"Leo asked.

"This is a communication hub that could contact all of Gem-kind, but now we have to take it down."Pearl said.

"I didn't bring enough C4 for this."Leo said.

"Ha, leave this to me!"Amethyst said as she started punching the nearest pillar.

"Amethyst stop that, we'll be here all day trying to take them all out individually. What we need is a well thought out plan-"

"No, what we need is Sugilite."Garnet said.

"Sugilite?"Leo murmured.

"Amethyst, fuse with me."Garnet said.

"What!?"Amethyst and Pearl questioned both with different degrees of excitement.

Amethyst started running around Garnet cheering, "Woo, let's mash it up! Bigger! Badder! Better!"

"Wait!"Pearl said.

"Garnet, think about this; you and Amethyst personalities can be a little….err, unstable. We need to be careful. Fuse with me instead."Pearl tried to persuade.

"We don't need to be careful; we just need to be huge."Garnet said.

"Oh yeah! Let's rock this joint!"Amethyst ran up to Garnet.

They stood apart some 5 or 10 feet back as they prepare.

"Synchronize!"Garnet said as she started her fusion dance.

Something Leo never really thought about with Garnet was her hands, more specifically her gem…or rather, gems. He never really asked but he found it rather odd that Garnet was the only one who had two gems. Maybe because she has two gauntlets, or more gems make a single gem stronger? He couldn't really figure it out, not like he could without any of the Gems. As the dance started to pick up Pearl put her hands over Leo's eyes.

"Hey what are you-okay never mind."Leo stopped protesting as he continually saw the dance.

Soon a flash of light marked that the fusion was complete and Sugilite had formed. True to what Amethyst said, Sugilite was bigger. Badder...maybe, better…quite possible.

"Ahahaha! I forgot how great it feels to be me."The fusion laughed.

"I suppose you are Sugilite?"Leo asked.

"Yep, that's me. Yo Leo, wanna see something awesome?"Sugilite said.

"Go ahead."Leo nodded.

Garnets gauntlets formed on Sugilites arms and combined them as she chucked them in the air and brought it down using Amethysts whip.

"Pretty cool right?"Sugilite asked.

"Yeah, let's get this rolling. We need this thing down a.s.a.p."Leo said.

"Alright, let's get wrecking!"Sugilite said as she swung her weapon at the tower, crumbling the pillar.

The chunks of the pillar were sent flying in all directions; some even almost hit Pearl and him.

"Watch it!"Pearl said.

Another large stone came towards them, but Leo pulled up his shield in time to block it.

"I think we should let them wreck this thing on their own."Leo said.

"Agreed."Pearl nodded as the two made their way to the warp pad and left.

The warp pad dropped them off at the house, it was rather empty.

"If you need me Leo, I'll be in my room."Pearl said.

"Alright, I gotta head over to dads for a sec."Leo said as he dropped his utility bag off in the armory.

The armory was a new addition to the house, on the left wall of the temple, it houses many sensitive weapons for Leo and some projects of his. Couldn't keep hand grenades on the floor you know. Leo headed out and made his way to the outskirts of town where his father's house was. It was a short trip, not much traffic in a tourist town. The scenery was quite nice. The seasons were changing and summer was quickly disappearing, Leo rather liked the summer but as time moves so do the seasons. On the bright side, he might get his friends together for a trip to a ski resort (courtesy of Weiss). He put aside winter plans for later; his father was the agenda right now.

As Leo entered into the property he noticed a parked civilian Warthog, it was a single shade of matte black. He investigated it a little further, nothing stuck out that could identify who owned it. Leo was just a tad bit suspicious; no one visited the house much outside of his friends. Leo walked towards the door, it was unlocked. He twisted the knob and entered. He heard talking in the kitchen and followed it. He passed the living room; the television was on and muted with a bowl of popcorn lying on the coffee table. Leo continued toward the kitchen, in it he identified 3 figures. Two of them were his father and Blake. The third was really tall, maybe 7 feet, had red hair and-

"Carolina."Leo said.

The three of them turned around, it was in fact Carolina. She looked the same as she did the last time she sent a video message, except this time she was actually here.

"Leo, I didn't hear you. I guess that should be a good thing."Carolina said.

"Ah, Leo, I was hoping you would come."Leonard said.

"Yeah, I just got done doing a mission with the Gems."Leo said.

"Anything good?"Carolina asked.

"Well….we brought back television."Leo shrugged.

"Good, the static was really annoying."Blake said as she went back to her tea.

"When did you get back?"Leo asked.

"Just yesterday, I had to go through inspection before leaving the base."Carolina said.

"Is _he_ in there?"Leo motioned to his head.

"Yes, Epsilon is content with where he is."Carolina said.

"So was this the reason you called?"Leo asked.

"Not originally, but when Carolina told me she was coming back last week, I figured now was as good a time as any."Leonard said.

"So, what was it?"Leo clapped his hands together.

"As you know, Leo, I'm old. The Fragments haven't been in the field as much they want to, and frankly I have no more use for them. That is why I'm giving them to you; I know you've had plenty of experience with them so it wouldn't be an issue to work with them for you."Leonard said.

"You mean…full time?"Leo asked.

"Indeed, I don't need the Fragments anymore and I have F.I.L.L.S to help me if I ever need it. Isn't that right F.I.L.L.S.?"Leonard asked.

"That is correct, Director. Plus, it would help a lot if they didn't pester me so much."Leo wagered if F.I.L.L.S. had a face, she'd be sneering at the Fragments.

"Am I going to get them surgically implanted, like Carolina?"Leo asked.

"If you want, I won't be able to do it today, but give a week or so."Leonard said.

"Do you really want them implanted?"Blake asked.

"Sure, can't have enough advantages."Leo said.

"It'll be painful."Carolina said.

"I'll be fine, don't worry."Leo smiled.

There was a knock at the door, "Leo, are you in here?"It was Pearl.

Leo raised his eyebrow; Pearl hardly ever came over to his father's house he wondered what made her come.

"Coming Pearl, what does she want?"Leo asked himself.

As he opened the front door he was greeted to a rather nervous Pearl.

"Hey Pearl, what's wrong?"Leo asked.

"It's Garnet and Amethyst, it's been hours and they should be back by-oh, am I interrupting?"Pearl noticed the other three occupants.

"Hello Pearl."Carolina said.

"Hello, Carolina."Pearl greeted.

"Okay, well have you tried warping over to them?"Leo asked.

"Plenty, the warp pad rejects any transport to it."Pearl said.

"Think they could be in trouble?"

"I'm having trouble deciding that myself. On one hand, they've fused into Sugilite; which is one of the stronger fusions we have. On the other hand this mission should have been relatively quick, them taking this long shouldn't be reasonable."Pearl said.

"Alright well I guess I'll get Lion and-"

*RING RING*

Leo's phone rang; it was "Mayor" Dewey. Dewey was in fact mayor of Beach City, but he was appointed by O.N.I., so is It really mayor if he's been elected without an actual campaign? Leo shook the thought out of his head and answered the phone. Usually whenever he called it was city-destroying important.

"This is Leo."

"Leo! Have you looked outside recently, I don't like what I'm looking at!"Dewey said in his cowardice voice.

"What's outsiiii-I see."Leo said.

Coming up from the sea was a huge figure, it was Sugilite.

"Guess we know where she went."Leo said.

"We should see to it that they unfuse."Pearl said.

"Agreed. Alright Dewey, just keep everyone off the beach, me and Pearl will handle this."

"That's Sugilite? She looks different."Leonard remarked.

"Yeah well, me and Pearl are gonna unfuse Garnet and Amethyst, we'll be back in maybe 30 minutes."

"Do you need help?"Carolina asked.

"Hopefully not, but we probably won't need or ask for any."Leo said as he exited with Pearl.

"Sugilite is very narrow-minded; you'll probably need to use force to get Garnet and Amethyst to unfuse."Leonard said.

"True, alright I'm gonna borrow some things from your armory."Leo said.

"Go ahead, not like I need some 20 odd plasma rifles."Leonard said.

"F.I.L.L.S., bring up the armory."Leo said.

"Understood."She complied as she switched the garage into an armory.

"Hmm, what will I use today?"Leo asked.

"Well whatever it is make it quick, Garnet and Amethyst need us."Pearl said.

Leo looked around; nothing really caught his eye, until he set his eyes on a rather peculiar weapon, "What's that?"Leo asked, starry-eyed.

"That is a Jiralhanae "Brute Shot", it shoots grenades. The back end is a heavily sharpened blade that can cut through U.N.S.C. armor. It holds 6 shots per magazine and the grenades must be lowered into the chamber."Leonard said.

"I'll take it."Leo said.

"It's the only one in my collection, so be careful with it."Leonard said.

"Oh, I will."Leo said as he ran his hand across the blade end.

"Good, now let's get to the beach."Pearl said.

"Agreed."Leo said.

"I'm coming."Carolina said.

"What, no. You can stay here, me and Pearl have this. Nothing we can't handle."Leo said.

"But-"Carolina started.

"No "but", you just got here. Trust me, this won't take me long."Leo said as he loaded the Brute Shot's grenades into the gun.

Leo and Pearl ran to the beach, Sugilite slowly rose higher and higher from the beach. Her face became clearer and clearer, it was obvious she wasn't pleased.

"Sugilite, you're back."Pearl said.

"You left me behind."She said, growling.

"To be honest, it didn't look like you needed help."Leo said.

Before Leo could react, Sugilite kicked Pearl back, leaving Leo alone with her.

"Well, there goes the peaceful route. Sorry guys, we're gonna have to take you down."Leo said.

"I'm not going down!"Sugilite said as she slammed her fists into the sand.

Leo jumped backwards and loaded his Brute Shot, "Don't blame me if you guys have a headache later." Leo said.

Leo started firing, Sugilite was trying to swat at him. On the other side Pearl began attacking at her feet as well. Sugilite brushed it off as nothing and kept swiping at us.

"This won't work; we need something else to bring her down; something heavy, something big."His mind started thinking of many possible solutions that didn't include breaking the town.

"You two are annoying me!"Sugilite yelled as she brought out her weapon…..her weapon!

"That will be your downfall."Leo muttered as he started forming a plan, how can he get Sugilite to hit herself?

He looked around his environment, usually that gave him his answers. He didn't want to jeopardize the house, and water didn't seem to choke gems, but maybe gravity can help. He looked at the cliff; get Sugilite up there and the fall will make them split.

"Hey Pearl! I gotta plan, to the lighthouse!"Leo said as he started running.

Pearl dodged on of Sugilites strikes and caught with Leo, "What's this plan you have?" She asked.

"Well, we make Sugilite fall."Leo turned around to see Sugilite chasing them.

"Fall, how is tha-oh, I see."Pearl smirked, she understood.

Leo and Pearl made it to the edge of the cliff, with Sugilite barreling straight towards them they had to time it just right.

"Hold it."Leo said.

Sugilite was closing in on them; there was not that room left.

"We have to jump."Pearl said.

"Hold it."He needed the right time.

Sugilite was all but on them now, about swing her weapon.

"Leo!"Pearl said.

"Hold it!"Leo shouted.

Sugilite threw her weapon and leaned in to it, her right foot was off the ground. This was it.

"NOW!"Leo yelled as he and Pearl jumped backwards.

In mid-air Leo aimed his Brute Shot and shot at Sugilites left foot, breaking her balance. Pearl threw her spear at the part of the cliff that held her, and subsequently started to fall. Sugilite had no say in her fall as she landed on the beach face down. Leo and Pearl landed in front of her, waiting.

"You think that will stop me, I'M STRONGER THAN YOU!" Sugilite talked too soon as her own weapon landed on her head, with a sudden impact dismantling the fusion.

"Correction, _we're_ stronger, in our way that is."Leo said as he put his Brute Shot on the ground.

Garnet and Amethyst lay on the beach, groaning, "You guys okay?" Leo asked.

"Sugilite….over worked our bodies. It hurts…a lot."Garnet said.

"And I have a massive headache."Amethyst groaned.

"I told you; don't blame me if you have a massive headache."Leo said.

Pearl brought both of them into a strong hug, they groaned in pain more.

"Oh, sorry."Pearl said.

"No, Pearl…you were right."Garnet said.

"I was right wasn't I? See, this is just another reason you should listen to me more often."Pearl said.

"Ugh."Amethyst said.

"Is everything okay over here?"Leo turned around; Carolina was out with a magnum strapped to her hip.

"We're good, problem taken care of. Wait, didn't I tell you to stay inside and enjoy yourself?"Leo asked.

"I couldn't let baby brother take all the action."Carolina said.

"Well you're too late, Garnet and Amethyst are defused and Sugilite is out of commission."Leo said.

"Uhuh."Carolina looked at the scene in front of her.

"Well, since you're here. Come inside, maybe we can get these two inside before the seagulls start mistaking them for empty blankets."Leo said.

"Please hurry."Amethyst said.

"Too late."Pearl said.

"Nooooo!"

 **Okay, so this took a while to make. Mainly because I was procrastinating but who cares. Steven Nuke is awesome and this chapter is out. Boom.**


	19. A Day with the Fragments-WBC

Expanded Universe

"The operation went without a hitch; the fragments seem to be responding well to their new home."Leonard said.

Leo had a massive headache; there were a ton of voices in his head. His father said he needed to take time to adjust to the fragments. So he opted to stay over for the day and wait for it to settle down.

"Now I know what Garnet and Amethyst felt like after Sugilite."Leo said.

"I'll set you up in your old room; you are to remain bedside for the entire day. No telling what could occur if you're out and about."Leonard said.

"Gotcha, I'm benched."Leo said.

"Get to know how to use the fragments; they will be your biggest asset in your missions."Leonard escorted Leo to his room.

The room was rather empty, a bed and a desk across the room was all that populated the room. Leo sat down and got comfortable, it was gonna take a while to get used to this.

"If you need anything, just call any of us and we'll get you what you need."Leonard said.

"Thanks, dad, but I think I'll just fall asleep. That won't…hurt or anything, will it?"Leo asked.

"Not at all, you'll be fine."

"Alright, well, see you tomorrow…or something."Leo leaned backwards and shut his eyes.

Sleep came easy this time, and as instantly as he closed his eyes he fell dead asleep.

The human mind was an interesting place; it could conjure up images and scenes within a dreamscape and forget it did it in a few hours. Mix in a couple of A.I.'s and things get…weird.

Leo woke up, except he wasn't where he thought he'd be. The landscape reminded him of his mother's room, pink clouds that were equally unreachable as they were close. There was nothing in sight except for a 2-story housing complex. He was confused, how did he end up here and why was there an apartment built.

"We decided that such an institution could equally help our need for division and creativity."Leo jumped, he turned towards the source.

"God, 'D', is that you?"Leo inspected the figure in front of him.

It was a green Spartan Mark IV armor equipped with a magnum. Of course it was Delta; he always chose a simplistic model instead of anything flashy.

"It is good to see you, Alpha."Delta said.

"Yeah, same…so, the others did this?"Leo asked.

"It was a group effort; many wanted their own piece to themselves. We decided that an 'apartment' could function well."Delta said.

"Piece?"Leo asked.

"Your mind, this may seem like the fragments are all contained into one part of the vast plane of your mind but this is merely a way you can interpret the scene. It is too complex for the human mind to understand."Delta said.

"Noted. So, what are you doing out here?"Leo asked.

"I am the greeting party; we didn't want you to feel unwelcomed."Delta said.

"Yeah, because my mind is completely foreign."Leo muttered.

"Would you like to see the others, you must be here for that reason."Delta said.

"Not really, I just fell asleep. I didn't mean for this to happen."Leo gestured towards his surroundings.

"I see, in any case, the Director felt it was important to get to know the fragments a little better. Follow me."Delta started making his way towards to apartment, with Leo in tow.

"So, what can you tell me that I don't already know?"Leo asked.

"You know plenty about all the fragments as it is; our personalities, our functions, what we excel at, and our abilities. But we have yet to see how well we can help in battle."Delta said.

"So this is combat training."Leo said.

"Combat training would infer actual physical interaction. No, what we plan is to test compatibility; to register if prolonged use of any or all fragments deem beneficial or not."

"But dad already said that the operation went well."Leo said.

"The operation and use of the Fragments are two different things. You may be able to hold them, but if you can actually enable them within a combat scenario has yet to be tested. Here is where we will test that; we will first start off with myself and move forward from there."Delta said.

"Alright."

Leo and Delta entered the building, and was it not even close to what the outside represented

"Whoa!"Leo said.

The inner working of the building looked similar to a humongous hotel that expanded seven stories high. The center of the building was empty; with a catwalk surround it in a square and an open view of the sky which looked similar to a midnight at Beach City.

"Of course something as small as what appeared outside could not fit the need of the other Fragments. They opted for something….exuberant."Delta said.

"No kidding. So, where's your room?"Leo asked.

"Here."He pointed to a close by door.

The inside of Delta's room was orderly, books were placed in a large bookshelf that stretched the entire wall (which itself also bordered the entire empty pavilion outside). Presentation boards wrote code and other theories Leo didn't understand.

"You keep everything chaotically ordered don't you Delta."Leo said.

"There are constantly studies needing to be done, to prove or to prove wrong."He said.

"Isn't that still just 'proving' something?"Leo asked.

Delta stopped, than continued, "In any case, my first test for you is simple."

Delta seated Leo and turned on a screen, there were two images. One showed a few dozen people strapped onto an unstable looking generator that looks like it's about to blow up. The other was a Sanghelli holding onto what looked like a very important U.N.S.C. general.

"When faced with choices, one must act quickly and decisively. Save the civilians, or save the general. The needs of the many over the needs of the few. Which will you choose; you have 20 seconds before both the bomb and the general are lost."Delta said as he started a timer.

"No context?"Leo asked.

"None, in a mission there is no context, just logic."Delta said.

Leo thought about it, he had his mind set, "The general."

"Why is that?"Delta asked.

"The general give us a structured order and more minds in the battle give us an advantage, while the civilians will likely be thankful but continue to drain resources further on."Leo decided.

Delta nodded, "That is all."

"That's it?"Leo asked.

"Yes, it is likely I have deduced your actions and any other future decision. You might want to see Theta next, he's been anxious ever since word about our transfer came to us."Delta said.

"Where is he?"

"The floor right above us, a staircase will lead you to him."Delta pointed out the door.

"Alright, thanks."Leo exited Delta's room.

Leo followed Delta's instructions, a small staircase to his left rose to the second floor to Theta. Just as Leo was about to open the door, it swung away from him and a small child replaced it. Theta looked incredibly happy; his purple and orange themed outfit suited him. His skate board in hand he chucked it aside and went for a hug.

"Hey hey, no need for the bear hug kiddo."Leo said.

"I can't believe you're here!"Theta said.

"Well, believe it. It's nice to see you JD, how about we go inside your place."Leo said.

"Yeah, that sounds good."Theta said.

The inside of Theta's room was just one big skate park, those big bowls and ramps littered the place.

"So, Delta sent me-"

"Yeah, I know. Wants to test compatibility, but, we already have that don't we?"Theta asked.

"Of course, but I guess the only way to truly test that is use your equipment."Leo shrugged.

"Oh, okay, let's try that."Theta said.

The room leveled out and three machine gun turrets rose up.

"Put the bubble shield to the test, let's do this."Leo said.

As the shield rose, the turrets began firing. The bubble held against the three turrets, until it started flickering.

"What's going on?"

"We're at 60% power, I don't know why?!"Theta said as he started to panic.

"Hey hey, calm down, we got this. Divert all power to the three plots the turrets are firing at."Leo said.

"Alright."

The rest of the bubble shield disappeared as the focus points of the three turrets remained, stronger as well. It lasted a few more minutes before the turrets stopped.

"Well, that worked."Leo said.

"I don't know why the shield did that, I'm sorry. I could have gotten us hurt."Theta said.

"Don't worry Theta; we got it taken care of. I see you on the other side, enjoy yourself a little."

"Okay."

"So, who's next?"Leo asked.

"Gamma, the stairs on just down the hall."Theta said.

"Thanks see you later Theta."Leo waved.

Once again, Leo followed the directions to Gamma's room. As Leo walked up to the door, there was a piece of paper on it. It read 'open the door'. Leo knew Gamma; it was probably another one of his tricks. Leo carefully opened it and stepped in. Gamma's room was sterile white. Nothing unique to it, just a flat landscape.

"Hello, Alpha."The robotic voice of Gamma welcomed.

"Hello Garry, so, what's my test?"Leo asked.

"As you know, I excel at espionage. Lies and trickery are my strong suit."Gamma said.

"And?"

"With espionage comes lies, with lies comes secrets. Tell me something, it can be a lie, or it can be real. To win, I must guess incorrectly if it is fact or not."

"Alright."Leo nodded.

"Begin."

"Halsey died."

"Truth."Gamma immediately replied.

"Wrong."

"Dirty Shisno."Gamma said.

"I'm not the one who hates Halsey."Leo said.

"She's an awful liar."Gamma said.

"I smell jealousy."Leo said.

"Leave."Gamma said.

"Who's-"

"Eta is next, just follow the stairs."Gamma interrupted him.

Leo was pushed out and continued his journey. Eta's door simply said 'Come in'. So Leo did.

"Eta?"Leo called.

"Here."Leo followed the source.

Eta lied on a bed; she looked bored out of her mind. Her room looked pleasant, very normal with human needs. There was a bathroom down to his right, a closet in front of him, and a kitchen some ways down past the bathroom. Leo guessed it was to make him feel like he's not in his own mind; instead he's in some nice house.

"You okay, Eta?"

"Of course, just, not into it right now."She slumped onto her bed.

"Well, Delta said-"

"Yes yes I know compatibility yada-yada. We've used shadow on numerous occasions back during your training all those times ago."She said.

"Yeah, we have."Leo scratched his neck.

"So, how've _you_ been doing?"Eta asked.

"Fine, nothing bad, well…except for Sugilite. That wasn't really that fun."Leo said.

"I heard, did fighting against Garnet and Amethyst make you…unpleasant."

"Honestly, Sugilite felt like a totally different person. I couldn't even tell that it was them."Leo said.

"Good to hear. Well, on your way, I bet Iota is eagerly waiting for you."Eta said.

"I'm surprise you two aren't on the same floor."Leo said.

"We decided to put some space in between us."

"Alright, well, see you later."

"Bye, Leo."Eta waved.

Leo went to Iota next, and to be honest, it was a little underwhelming. Iota's room was….just a bed. Nothing else, the walls and floor were a simple beige color. He expected Gamma's room to be empty, but Iota's was a bit of a surprise.

"Iota?"Leo called out, as he moved further into the room.

"Behind you."Leo turned around, there he was.

"Ugh, hey Iota, how you doing?"Leo asked.

"Same as before."Iota said in his signature down-trodden voice.

"Well, got anything for me?"Leo asked.

"No."

"Okay well….wanna talk?"Leo asked.

"No thanks."Iota said.

"Um…okay. Well, I guess I'll just go on my way."

"That's okay."Iota said.

But before Leo could fully leave, Iota had one thing to say, "Alpha."

"Yeah?"Leo asked.

"What the room showed you, don't forget it."

Leo stared at Iota before his door automatically closed. He's been trying to forget about what his mother's room showed him a while ago, why would Iota tell him not to forget it? Leo pushed it aside; Iota was always the weirdest of the Fragments. And so he made it to the 6th floor, if he was correct, O'Malley would be in here. He opened the door just to dodge a body flying his way.

"Whoa!"Leo fell to the floor before he was pushed off.

He looked inside the room, Omega was beating up a bunch of random goons, probably a little too much.

"Ugh, hey Omega."

"Sigma wants to talk to you."He said.

"Okay but don't we-"

"Sigma, now."He said.

"Jesus, alright."The door closed and Leo continued to the top floor.

As he walked up to the next floor he saw that he didn't need to go into the next room.

"Cinder, what's up?"Leo asked.

"Hello Leo, it's good to see you."She said.

"So, Omega said you wanted to talk to me."

"Of course, follow me."Sigma stood up from the railings and walked towards her room.

"Delta was pestering me about making sure we are compatible, but I'm positive that if there is anyone here that is more compatible it would be me."Sigma said.

"True, you and Eta were there during my training with Carolina and Cortana. So, if this isn't about compatibility, than what?"Leo asked.

"A simple game of chess."She laid down a chess board.

"Chess?"

"What's so hard to believe?"She smirked.

"Nothing, just…didn't take you for a chess player."

"Chess is an amazing allusion to war and strategy, such was the design."

"And what does this mean for us?"

"Isn't it obvious, that plan you ever so want to enact. What we both have been striving for. Revenge."She smiled.

"Yeah….that."Leo said.

"Do I sense you backing out?"Sigma asked.

"No, no I still want in. It's just….."

"The Gems."Sigma finished.

"Yeah, plus we don't have any of the other pieces of the plan ready. And we don't know where they are or-"

"Sssshhh, relax, we'll find them."Sigma leaned forward and put her finger and Leo's lips.

"When we do, we'll make their deaths excruciating, they won't feel mercy, years of plotting will finally be complete. The Prophets will pay for what they've done…to the Director, to humanity…..to you."She placed her hand on Leo's chest.

"But what about-"

"Leave it to me, Alpha. When the opportunity arises, we will strike without hesitation. It'll be our sweet victory."She said.

"Was this all you had, just a pep-talk?"Leo asked.

"I just wanted to make sure that our goals are aligned."

"Is there anything else?"Leo asked.

"No, you'll wake up any minute now."

"What does-"He was gone.

Sigma stood up, the chess board was left un-played, and she moved the first pawn on the white side.

"It's only a matter of time, don't worry Alpha, we'll achieve our goal. At any cost."

 **Man that might be my longest WBC. Well, anyways we're almost halfway done with season 1, jeez, when season 3 comes around it's gonna be great. Peace out.**


	20. The Fountain

**ANNOUNCEMENT EVERYBODY, ANNOUNCEMENT! One, Centipeetle is a precious cinnamon roll and deserves to be hugged. TWO, I've decided to make chapter 1 non-canon. That's right; I'm pulling a Steven Universe and making the first chapter not canon. It wasn't planned but I was going over it in my head about how it fits into the story and the different behavior that was Leo in chapter 1 compared to him now, and decided it was best left alone. Lastly, it's not much of an announcement…more like a complaint. So my original source of Steven Universe episodes all got taken down (which sucks) so now I have to use KissCartoon, it's not necessarily bad…just that all the episodes are only numbers so I have to pull up the wiki for episode list and find the episode through there. It's a minor convenience but the series continue to move on. Anyway, here is 'The Fountain'. Oh and before I forget, this is mainly a flashback episode so lemme tell you how this will work. Italics sentences are from the present such as** _"So that was it?"_ **and** _It was proof._ **Both of those are from the present, and of course non-italics are from the past, just some FYI before you head down to read. Okay that's all I had to say, enjoy.**

Expanded Universe

Connie looked up from her book, finally Leo was here. She'd been waiting for somewhere close to 30 minutes. Being busy with lessons didn't give her the luxury of having time to waste much. She smiled, she was just happy to see he remembered.

"Hey, Leo!"Connie waved.

Leo sighed, "Hey Connie." He said as he fell on his back as soon as he caught up with her.

"You okay?"She asked.

"Yeah yeah…I'm fine."He said.

"You sure, because it doesn't seem like it."She said.

"It's been a long day for me."He replied.

"A magical day?"She asked with some enthusiasm, she was always enthralled with the stories Leo would tell her about the missions he went on.

"More like emotionally exhausting."He said.

"Do you want to talk about it?"She asked.

"Maybe, I don't know. I don't want to bring down the mood."Leo said.

"It's okay, go on. I've heard that talking about your feelings makes recovering better."Connie said.

"Alright, it all started this morning-"

 **FLASHBACK**

"Hey Leo, watch this!"Amethyst said as she jumped near the side of the cliff.

"I'm busy here, Amethyst. Dewey said that the fuse box for the lighthouse needed fixing, so I'm kinda busy. Now which wire replaces the blue one?"Leo muttered.

"Oh come on Leo, you're not being fun here."Amethyst said as she continued to hop around the edge of the cliff.

"Do you want boats crashing onto our front lawn?"Leo asked.

"At least they'll have good jokes."Amethyst said.

"Look, I'm almost done; when I am we can go to the pier or something."Leo said.

"Ugh, whatever."Amethyst said.

"Aaaand I'm done. Alright Amethyst, where do you want to go?"Leo asked as he started to pull away from the fuse box.

"Well, I was thinking-"Her voice faded.

Leo turned around, Amethyst was gone. He walked closer to the edge and saw Amethyst face first on a boulder.

"Why is this not surprising?"Leo asked himself as he started to float down.

" _Wait, you can float?"Connie asked._

" _Yeah, I just don't use it that much. I'm not in situations that require it that much."Leo said_

As Leo floated down, Garnet and Pearl made their way towards the two.

"You okay Amethyst?"Leo asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, except for this!"Amethyst pulled her hair aside to show off her left eye bulging bigger than the other.

"Amethyst, show me your gem."Pearl said but Amethyst slapped her hand away.

Garnet, being herself, grabbed Amethysts arm and made a grab for her shirt, revealing her gem. It was whole, except for a noticeably sized crack in it.

"Um, is that supposed to be normal?"Leo asked.

"Rude! It's not a big deal."Amethyst said as she pulled away.

"How did this happen?"Pearl asked.

"She fell down the cliff."

"Of course, I'm putting a fence up there so this will never happen again."Pearl said.

" _So that's why the fence is here."Connie said._

" _Yeah but it wasn't made until a few hours ago."_

" _Well what happened before that?"_

" _It wasn't good. You want the rest of my soda, I don't like raspberry."Leo said._

" _Sure."Leo handed over the soda._

" _Okay so we all started to get worried-"_

"I'm assuming this is important, care to fill me in Pearl?"Leo asked.

"Oh right, see when a Gem is damaged its physical form retreats into its gem. However in Amethysts case she damaged her gem, no telling what this will do to her."Pearl said.

"So, how do we fix it?"Leo asked.

"Before, we had Rose."Pearls voice saddened.

Leo frowned; of course Rose Quartz would have the solution.

"Leo, your mother had healing tear that flowed from her gem. Whenever her friends got hurt, she would use her tears to heal them. You have the Rose Quartz gem now, deep down; I know you can do it too."Garnet said as she put an arm on his shoulder.

"Cry huh? I don't know if I can do it on command, I mean…it's not like I've cried before it's just…I don't cry that often."Leo said.

"True."Pearl said.

"We have only one other option than. We have to take Amethyst to Rose's healing spring."Garnet decided.

"Guys don't worry, I'm not gonna get any worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-"Amethys's face scrunched up, like it was hard to make any expression besides that one.

Soon enough, her voice started speaking in a way even Leo couldn't understand, "We should hurry."

" _What did she say?"Connie asked._

" _No clue, the Fragments probably know. But I can only guess it was something along the line of 'I'm fine.'"Leo said_

"So, what's this healing spring Garnet mentioned?"Leo asked as the warp pad dropped them off at a new location Leo had never been to.

"It's a gigantic fountain made in Rose's honor, when turned on, her tears pour out from the center and fill the basin with her healing tears."Pearl said.

"I don't see it."Garnet said.

"What do you-oh my!"Pearl said as she looked at the scene in front of her.

The entire place was filled with barbed vines that formed some sort of cocoon, Roses fountain was probably in there. Once again, Amethyst shared her thought, but to no avail as her words were misunderstood.

"Delta, can you scan the place for the fountain?"Leo asked.

"Unfortunately no, the heavy foliage makes any scan I make difficult to tell. However I do see a large open area within the vines, which could be the fountain."Delta said

"Now everyone relax, our memories of Rose will not be tainted by some overgrown bramble. Pathetic, directionless things. It's gonna be okay Garnet."Pearl grabbed onto Garnets arms.

"Sure."She agreed.

Leo looked around, the bramble was very thick and seeing past a wall couldn't help in anyway. As Garnet as Pearl walked off Leo decided to look around. On the floor, Amethyst continued to try and make conversation, again to no good results.

"I can't understand you Amethyst."Leo said.

She slapped herself and made lines down from her eyes, "You want me to hurt myself that way I cry. I don't know, I have a pretty high pain tolerance."Leo said.

Suddenly Amethyst ran into him and tackled him to the ground, not a move he thought would work.

"Amethyst no rough-housing, you'll exacerbate your crack!"Pearl yelled.

Amethyst started to talk and walk towards Pearl, but her body turned itself around and walked into the boulder right beside them.

"Amethyst!"Leo said.

She hit her gem again, this time her body started doing weirder things, like replacing her head with her foot.

"Oh no, oh no no no no no no no no."Pearl said as she walked up to Amethyst.

"We need to find the fountain now. Delta, point us to the direction."Leo said.

"Of course."Delta said as he pointed my in the direction.

"Garnet, can you open us a path?"She nodded as she grabbed a boulder and punched it through layers of bramble.

"I needed that."She said.

"Let's go."Leo said.

The path was correct; it did lead us to the fountain. Right in the center of the atrium stood Rose Quartz, a statue of her but none the less…it was her. Leo sighed, once again he had to come face to face with something she'd left behind. But what did she care, she left a lot of things behind.

" _You okay?"Connie asked._

" _Honestly, when I saw it…I didn't know."_

"Is it…on?"Leo asked.

"No, it isn't."

"Why isn't it working?"Pearl questioned.

"I don't know."Garnet started to stroke her chin.

On the floor, Amethysts gem cracked more. Her limbs started to become only attached by stands from her body, she was getting worse.

"You two find some way to turn it on; I'll stay here with Amethyst."Leo said.

"Good idea."Garnet nodded and started to run off.

"Stay here."Leo said as he went to inspect the statue.

Leo stood up to it; the statue was covered in moss and pink roses. The face looked exactly the same as the one at home, her eyes were closed. If there was any time to confess….now would be that time.

"You know, it's been twice now that I've found something of yours. What are these to you, your pride, your secret, what did they mean to you? What do I mean to you? Everyone sings praises about you, but all I see is abandonment. All I see is a mother I'll never know, never hug…never love. You have no place in my heart, but yet somehow you do. Because of this, I can't tell if I love you. You gave dad someone to love, gave him hope, and gave him a reason to continue. But sometimes I feel like I should hate you. You leave and don't even think to say hello…or even goodbye. Why? You had everything anyone could ever ask for, endless life. So what made you give it up…..just for me?"

 _Leo looked down from the sky, Connie had tears falling from her cheeks._

" _You okay?"Leo asked._

" _Continue."She said._

Leo grabbed one of the roses on the statue; his moment was ruined as Amethyst started screaming her head off. Leo put his hand on her mouth to quiet her down. She started to say something but stopped and gasped.

"Behind you!"Theta yelled in Leo's head.

Leo grabbed for Amethysts head and jumped forward, away from his attacker. He looked to what caused it, it was the bramble. Soon, the nearby bramble started to come at him and Amethyst with even more bramble. Leo grabbed the rest of her body and ran for the fountain. As they fell inside the bowl the bramble around them surrounded the edges. He looked at Amethyst again; her form started to glitch out even more, her gem cracked just a little bit as well.

"Come on Amethyst stay with me!"He yelled.

She talked again, most of it was gibberish but one thing stood out from the rest, "…you…CAre…..aBOUT…..mEE…"

Leo held on harder, he wasn't going to lose Amethyst. His eyes started to water, he was crying. He aimed his eye just in a position that a tear would fall on her gem.

"Work dammit!"Leo shouted.

The tear fell and landed on her gem…nothing happened.

"NO no no!"Leo's heart fell; there was nothing he could do.

The ground beneath him started to rumble, above the statue of Rose started to flow with tear water and fill the basin. He was pushed under the water, probably five feet down. As he looked up, he could have sworn someone reached out to him, but as he swam up there was no one there. Something bumped into him, he turned around, it was Amethyst.

"Well looky here, we got ourselves a hero."She joked.

Leo went straight for the hug; he was overwhelmed Amethyst was alive.

"Are you two okay?"He turned to see Garnet and Pearl coming from one of the paths that were cleared of bramble.

"It was a close call, but we made it."Leo said as he pushed himself out of the tear pool.

"We figured out what was the problem, it was a big plug stopping the current from moving."Garnet said.

"Oh, was it?"Leo asked.

"Yes, it was."

Leo frowned; he thought maybe his own tears brought the statue back to life.

"I guess there are some things that don't get passed on."Leo muttered.

"What was that Leo?"Pearl asked.

"Nothing, I'm tired of this place…let's go home."He said.

 **Present**

"So is that why you've been in a funk lately; because you don't have healing tears?"Connie asked.

"Yeah, some part of me imagined that I could replace her…be her…but I can't….I'm not Rose Quartz."Leo said.

"Good."Connie said.

"What?"

"You aren't your mother, you're you. I'd prefer Leo Quartz Church over Rose Quartz any day."Connie said.

"I don't think I gave you permission to use my real middle name."Leo joked.

"I don't think you did."She joked, before she started to groan in mild annoyance.

"You okay?"Leo asked.

"I don't know…I-"Her vision became blurry, she took off her glasses but when she did…everything looked…better.

"I can see."She started to say.

"Yeah, so can I, what's the problem?"Leo asked.

"No, I can see without my glasses!"Connie exclaimed.

"Excuse me?"Leo asked.

"I don't need my glasses I-"Connie looked at the soda in her hand.

"No god damn way. My spit heals?! Who decided that!? I don't want to lick Amethysts gem if she ever gets a crack again, that's just gross!"Leo said.

"What am I gonna tell my parents?"Connie muttered.

"Hey, Connie…"She looked up, Leo hand his hand out.

"Thank you, really. It meant a lot to me."She grabbed his hand.

"Of course."She said.

"I'll be right back; I gotta make a few calls. Maybe when I'm done we can head to the beach? I'm pretty sure some of my other friends will be down for some swim time."Leo said.

"Yeah, I'm okay with it."Connie said.

"Alright, I'll be right back."Leo said as he ran off.

Connie was left alone on the hill; she brought up her glasses and pushed the lenses out. She smiled; she _did_ prefer Leo any day.

 **OKAY EVERYONE PREPARE YOUR BUTTS, CUZ NEXT CHAPTER, we're going back in time.**


	21. Regrets

**LEO, WE HAVE TO GO BACK! GO BACK WHERE? GO BACK…..IN TIIIIIIIIIIIME!**

Expanded Universe

Leo had entered the armory, he was looking for something. In the far back of the room lie a box, it was voice-locked that way no one but himself could interact with the object. It was too powerful for any one person to use; the ramifications that could be caused by this were tremendous.

"Et omnia sunt et ego."

The box unlatched itself, inside was a small sphere the size of his palm. It had a single band of gold that circled the circumference and a small hourglass within it.

"Destroying this will give us no advantage, think of all the things we can fix."Gamma said.

"In the wrong hands, this will prove our downfall to any who wishes us harm."Delta said.

"What are you going to do?"Theta asked.

"I don't know."Leo said.

He turned the artifact in his hand, feeling it. How could something this small become something so immensely powerful, and how come no one has used it yet? Leo sighed, maybe it would have been best if he hadn't grabbed for it during the teams last mission.

 **A Few Days Ago**

"So, remind me what we're doing here?"Leo asked.

"The legendary glass of time is an artifact of immense power, the ability to warp through time. We only get one chance every hundred years, so we'll have to choose carefully."Pearl said.

"Is there any indication of which one of these HUNDRED HOURGLASSES is the right one?"Leo asked.

"Unfortunately no."Pearl said.

"So the best chance we got of getting one is to grab as many as we can and run back to the warp pad, got it."Leo said.

"I think it's that one."Garnet pointed to the largest of the hourglasses.

"Someone's over compensating."Leo said.

"How will we ever bring it back to the warp pad?"Pearl asked.

"I can carry it."Garnet said with a smirk.

"Let's not leave it to chance. We should just grab as many as we can and book it, we stand to have a greater probability of one of us getting the correct one."Leo said.

"I have to agree with Leo, we have a bigger chance at it than getting the big one. Sorry Garnet."Pearl said.

Leo walked over to a table that held numerous hourglasses; he had to calculate which ones would best fit his two arms while not holding him down enough to make him too slow. He picked out 5 of them; 1 was a small sphere he can fit in his pocket, 4 of them were medium-sized hourglasses that he could fit two in each arm.

"I've picked out mine, you guys ready?"Leo asked.

"I've got mine, ready to bail!"Amethyst hollered.

"All set over here."Garnet said.

"Ready when you are."Pearl said.

"Alright, when I say 'Go.'. 3….2….1….GO!"Leo yelled.

Leo grabbed his 5 as fast as he could and started to run. He underestimated them, they were pretty freaking heavy. He looked behind him, the ceiling opened and water started to pour out. He ran a little faster, he was the first to make it to the warp pad.

"Let's go!"He shouted.

Garnet was the first to make it after Leo, her 10 artifacts all cradled in her arm. Pearl jumped from her location to the warp pad, she held 8 artifacts. Amethyst rounded them out as she made it to the warp pad with 6.

"Alright, get us out of here!"Leo said.

"Hold on!"Pearl yelled as the warp pad grabbed them just as a wave fell on them.

At the house, a wave of water pushed them out from the warp pad. Leo looked at the artifacts in his hand, they were all relatively fine.

"Let's not do that again."Leo said.

"If we have the right one, we hopefully won't have to."Pearl said.

"I'm gonna dry off, be right back."Leo said.

"Same, if you need me I'll be in my room."Amethyst said.

"I don't think being wet will help at all."Pearl agreed.

"We'll go through these in 30 minutes, dry up."Garnet said as she left all of hers on the ground.

Leo put all of his on the ground as well; he had to clean up, he really hated salt water. After a quick shower Leo looked at the artifacts, all of them looked different and complicated. Some were the generic hourglass, but some looked bizarre. Like some kind of weird complex device that didn't make sense. If the real artifact was supposed to warp someone through time, why risk it with something that can be put in danger? His eyes drifted towards the smallest one, a sphere the size of his palm.

"What are the odds you are the correct one?"Leo asked.

"Is that an actual question or-"Delta said in his head.

"No, Delta, I don't need you to calculate it."

Leo grabbed the sphere, turning it around in his hand. It certainly was portable, easy to protect.

"Time to boldly go some time I haven't been."He said as he checked his watch, it was 2:43.

"Okay, ugh….October 20th, 2018."He said.

Nothing happened, and then it did. His vision blackened and brightened in less than 5 seconds. He felt dizzy, and stumbled around a little.

"Whoa, that doesn't feel good."He shook his head.

He looked around; it was the temple…except the house wasn't here. He inspected the small part of the temple that held the warp pad and temple entrance, it looked exactly the same. He was about to walk up the warp pad when the temple door started to open.

"Oh crap!"He quietly shouted.

He backed himself against the wall and shape shifted his body to mimic the wall behind him. Out from the door was three figures, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"All I'm saying is that we should build a higher fence, those humans don't seem to know what our signs mean."It was Pearl, except she was smaller and looked different.

"Humans will be humans, Pearl. Besides, they don't hurt."It was his mother, Rose.

The towers did a good job of imitating her face and smile. The only thing they got wrong was her height, which could possibly even beat Garnet. Her dress was long and flowy like it always was, Leo's heart felt like it stopped for a moment and that moment felt like a life time. He never thought he'd see his mother, but here she was, with Pearl and Garnet (who as well didn't look the same).

He took his eyes off from her, it was a distraction he didn't need. So he looked towards Garnet, and he knew immediately she wasn't the same and not just in appearance. Garnet felt livelier, she smiled, and walked looser…she wasn't in charge. She looked like she enjoyed herself more; it was because she didn't need to bear the weight of leading a team.

"They don't bother us."Garnet said.

"Well they should learn to listen to signs, when we come back I'm going to fix this."She said.

"Of course you will."Rose chuckled.

They left on the warp pad, it was silent. He pushed off of the wall and shifted back to his original form. He wasn't fast enough to get out of sight when he was spotted.

"Who are you?"The voice sounded familiar, it was Amethyst.

He shifted his face and lowered his voice; he couldn't let her know him.

"Ugh, I'm…ugh, just lost."He turned around.

"Oh? How did you get here? Pearl is really picky when humans get through the fence."Young Amethyst said.

"I fell, from up top."He pointed up.

"Oh, makes sense."She said.

"Well, I'm gonna leave."Leo said.

"Okay, see ya mystery man."She waved.

Leo started walking and as soon as he was clear of Amethyst's vision he booked it. He jumped over the fence (which was just a garden fence) and stop.

"Too close."He said as he returned to his original form.

He grabbed the glass of time, he needed out of here.

"Um, 2:44 July 20th 2551."He said.

Again, his eyes were filled with black and then a bright white. He looked around, the town looked normal. He made his way back to the temple, everything seemed in order. As he went inside he spotted all the artifacts on the ground, nothing seemed different. From the temple, Amethyst came out, nothing about her looked different.

"Ugh, hey Amethyst, how ya doing?"Leo asked.

"Ugh, good."She said.

"Good, good, just ugh, just checking."Leo said.

"Okay."She opened the fridge and took out a watermelon.

She went back into the temple, like nothing happened.

"Delta, you there?"Leo asked.

"Present."He said.

"You saw all that, right?"

"If you are referring to the younger versions of the Crystal Gems, yes I did."

"Can you scan Waypoint for any anomalies that happened because of our 'trip'?"Leo asked.

"Scanning. Complete. As far as we are concerned, nothing of importance has happened to trigger and large event. Your friends are also similar to what they were to before our 'trip'."

"Anything different about them?"Leo asked.

"No."

"Good."Leo sighed.

Leo looked at the Glass of Time, he was still awestruck. He had not only gone back in time to briefly see his mother, but also saw the Crystal Gems 500 years ago. It was crazy.

"October 21st, 2018."

Leo eyes were filled with darkness, as he adjusted his eyes he could see that the temple entrance was empty. He walked out from the temple in to town; he morphed a hoodies over his head just in case. He looked around, everything seemed so old. Leo looked towards the top of the temple hill; there she was, Rose Quartz. Leo immediately went for her. He slowly walked past the town's residential area and up the lighthouse hill. He could finally get his time to talk…..with her….to solve all of his problems…to talk with his mother. Rose Quartz heard a noise a turned around, no one was there.

"Amethyst? Pearl? Garnet?"She asked.

Only 10 feet away Leo stood camouflaged with the environment. What was he thinking, he couldn't do this. He shouldn't. But she was so close, just feet away from him. But if there was anything television and science told him about messing with time…nothing ends well. However much he wanted to talk to her, to reach out, to _know_ her…he couldn't. He backed off; Rose looked around, still confused.

Rose shrugged, "I guess not."She said.

Leo started to walk away, he couldn't face her anymore.

"If I could begin to be  
Half of what you think of me  
I could do about anything  
I could even learn-"

"-how to love, like you."

Instantly, Leo was back in his own time. He looked down; the grass was as green as ever. The old lighthouse was still standing, the town was normal. He walked down, making a wide turn towards the temple, taking his time. It stabbed at his heart, he contemplated destroying the glass of time; but he couldn't do it. He couldn't throw it or squeeze it or anything. His fingers were numb and to be honest, he felt awful. He walked towards the temple, everything looked the same. As he entered he could see Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl going through all of the fake artifacts.

"Nope, this one doesn't work either; by the way, how will we know if it's the real one or not?"Amethyst asked.

"It will take you back in time."Garnet said.

"Oh, that sounds awesome."Amethyst said as she searched through more.

"Oh, Leo, you're back."Pearl noticed.

"Welcome back, dude. Wanna help me go back in time?"Amethyst asked.

"Are you okay, Leo?"Garnet asked.

"Ugh, yeah, I'm good. I just need to rest, I'm not ugh…just need to lie down."Leo said.

Lion was parked in front of the door, looking at Leo.

"Hey buddy, gonna need you to move."Lion looked up, and proceeded to move aside from the door.

"Do you need something?"Pearl asked, worried.

"No, I just need to sleep."Leo said.

He entered his room; everything was just the way he remembered. He placed the glass of time in one of his empty drawers, and fell asleep.

 **Present**

Leo sighed as he set down the Legendary Glass of Time back in the armory, it was best to leave it be until he found somewhere better to put it. He exited the armory; he needed to get his mind off of this. As he did, he found himself muttering.

"Mama, ooh  
I don't wanna die  
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all."

 **If you can spot that song, good for you. But let me address something first, I'm gonna be more busy for a while. I'm sure all of you can guess why. But have no fear, I'll continue to update as much as I can (probably on weekends though). So let's enjoy the last weeks of summer.**


	22. Growing Suspicions

**Now to get into the Juiciness of SU, HYPE!**

Expanded Universe

"Sorry, Leo, I can't come over."

"Why's that?"

"My parents want to spend more time together before school starts back up and want me to talk to my Grandparents about what it was like in their time. But I can spend as much time with you tomorrow."

"Alright, well it was worth a shot. I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya."Connie hung the phone up.

Leo put his phone in his pocket; he had an idea to pass the time.

"Hey, Pearl, can you come out here for a while!?"Leo yelled towards the temple entrance.

Pearl came out, "What is it Leo?"She asked.

"Well, I was wondering, if you can…oh I don't know; teach me a little about Gem culture. I'd look it up myself but the files are locked."Leo said.

One look at Pearl gave him a small sense of regret, as her smile was big as it ever was.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to teach you this."She said.

"17 years?"Leo guessed.

"More like 15, but A for effort!"Pearl said.

"Okay, so, where do we start?"Leo asked.

"I have just the thing."She cupped her gem.

Her gem started to glow and produced a small orb of light. As it distanced itself from Pearl it started growing, and as it landed in Pearls hand, it became a mirror. It looked fancy, with a wavy structure, dirtied glass and a tear drop back. Leo questioned how that fit in Pearls gem.

"So, what does it do?"Leo asked.

"This mirror was found at the Galaxy Warp thousands of years ago, and has the ability to display any event it has seen. Let's start with something simple, ahem, show the Galaxy Warp."She commanded, it did nothing.

"Show us the Galaxy Warp."Pearl said a bit more stern this time.

"This is in rough shape; it's probable that it has simply stopped working."Pearl said.

"Doesn't look broken."Leo said.

"Well it is, I suppose I should dispose of it."Pearl rubbed her chin.

"Aw c'mon Pearl, don't throw it away. This makes for an excellent mirror."Leo said.

"I don't need a mirror."Pearl said.

"Then I'll take it, not like it's gonna be a hassle."Leo grabbed the mirror out of Pearls hand.

"Alright, you can have. No one has need for a generic mirror like that."Pearl started walking away.

"Are there any missions today?"

"No, Garnet hasn't found anything yet and we've yet to receive anything from the U.N.S.C. so we'll be on standby."Pearl said.

"Okay, yeah thanks."Leo said.

Pearl entered the temple as Leo pulled out his guitar, having nothing to do and everyone else being out of town now was a good time to write a new song. He had an idea in mind, he just needed to find the right tone, and anything upbeat was out of the equation. Maybe rock? No, that would be too rough. Punk? No, not that kinda song. Maybe a bit of smooth, emotional vibe, yeah that sounded right. Mix a drum beat in there, and maybe piano…Leo started liking the way this was moving, all he had to do now was move to the beach. Said beach was Leo's best place to sing, soft sand, and the blue sea made it a great scenery.

"All my friends are heathens, take it slow  
Wait for them to ask you who you know  
Please don't make any sudden moves  
You don't know the half of the abuse."

The words started fitting in well, he liked where this was going.

"We don't deal with outsiders very well  
They say newcomers have a certain smell  
You have trust issues, not to mention  
They say they can smell your intentions."

Honestly, he couldn't have found a better time to do this. With the sun high and shining, the beach making the typical noise of it makes whenever waves slow down. Perfect.

"Why'd you come, you knew you should have stayed  
I tried to warn you just to stay away  
And now they're outside ready to bust  
It looks like you might be one of us."

The entirety of the song was perfect, it just felt…right. That was, when he heard his own voice.

"-how did I get here, sitting next to you?"His voice sang again.

Leo was taken aback by this; he hadn't moved his mouth much less speak.

"What?"Leo looked around, he was confused.

"-how did I get here, sitting next to you?"

His thoughts went to only one thing that could possible make his own voice, he turned to the mirror.

"Did, you do that?"Leo asked.

"-yeah-"It responded with his voice from earlier.

"Whoa, you actually work."Leo said.

"-yeah-"

"So, what can you do?"Leo asked.

"-the ability to display any event it has seen-"It used Pearls voice from earlier.

"That's pretty incredible, can…you sing that song I just made."

"-yeah-"

"Pretty nifty, what else can you do?"Leo asked.

It didn't respond.

"Either you can't do much else, or can't use my words in a way to describe it."

"-yeah-"

"Ah, very good."Leo said.

They sat in silence.

"Wanna do something around town?"Leo asked.

"-yeah-"

"Alright, let's go."Leo picked up the mirror.

Leo around the town, showing the mirror all it had to bare. Commentary was needed; it was weird showing a mirror a building without conversation. The mirror, as limited with its current vocabulary as is, tried to make as much conversation; as it could make short sentences or just broken English. He had to give it credit; it tried warping Leo's voice to answer a question or reply from other times he spoke, which was impressive.

Leo tried not to look crazy as he showed off the town to the mirror; it's not every day someone goes around town talking to a mirror. It was actually a really relaxing day, no missions, no Gem monsters, just a nice sunny day…again.

"And here is Funland arcade, just a room full of arcade cabinets. Wassup Mr. Smiley!"Leo waved.

"Hey Leo!"Mr. Smiley smiled.

"And that's about every place I have to show, well….other than the beach."Leo walked across the sand.

"-nice-"The mirror repeated from one of Leo's earlier sentences.

"Yeah, it's like this a lot."Leo said as he sat on the beach, looking at the sun set.

Leo sat in silence, why ruin the moment? Except…the mirror wanted something.

"Um, everything alright?"He asked as the mirror started to vibrate.

"-look-"It said.

Leo flipped it to see the glass side of the mirror. It started to blacken and in it a figure appeared. It turned the mirror around and grabbed for the teardrop shape on the back and yanked it out.

"You…want me to pull this out?"Leo asked.

"-yes-"It said.

"Well, I don't know. Guys, any thoughts?"Leo asked the fragments.

"The mirror has shown no signs of resentment towards you or willing to harm you."Delta said.

"I say we do it."Theta said.

"Same."Eta agreed.

"Alright, I guess I'm doing it."Leo said as the other fragments agreed.

He turned the mirror backwards and started to pull on the teardrop, it was really hard to do though like it was stuck. Leo pulled harder and finally it came off, the mirror in his hand shattered and the teardrop floated near the water. It started to grow; the figure that came out of it reminded Leo of a doll that was until it started to fill out. It grew hair, fingers; feet….it was a Gem.

The Gem fell to the ground, it was blue, the teardrop gem was placed on her back, and when she turned around her eyes looked like mirrors. Leo ran up to her to help keep her stable.

"Are you okay?!"Leo asked.

"You-you listened to me, you actually listened!"The Gem spoke.

"I can't believe it, you're a Gem. Oh man, I'm never met another Gem before, this is crazy. Wait 'till the others hear about this."Leo muttered the end.

"It's, Leo…right?"The Gem asked.

"Yeah, who are you?"Leo asked.

"My name is Lapis. Lapis Lazuli."She said.

"Wow, this is...just….wow."Leo said.

Leo got a better look at her, now that Lapis was standing tall. She had a nicely curled bob haircut, she wore some sort of dress…like a summer dress, and she had no shoes, just legs and feet.

"Thank you, you're the only person I've spoken to for hundreds of thousands of years."Lapis said.

"Man…that must suck."Leo said.

"It's been so long, and this is what's happened since…you humans have gone pretty far."Lapis looked across the town.

"Yeah, we did pretty well. But I have to show you to the other Gems; they'd freak to see you."Leo said.

"Other….Gems?"Lapis questioned.

"Yeah, the Crystal Gems. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and me…Leo."He smiled.

"You're…a Crystal Gem?"Lapis asked.

"Yeah, we do awesome stuff."Leo smirked.

"But….you helped me…"Lapis said.

"Um, yeah. Why wouldn't we?"Leo asked.

"But you-"

"Leo, there you are we've been calling you for-GAH!"Speak of the devil, Leo turned around to see Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

"Guys, look what I've-"Leo started to jog towards his friends.

"You…"Leo turned around to see a giant hand of water reach up from the sea water.

"You three knew I was in there, DID YOU EVEN WONDER WHO I USED TO BE!?"Lapis yelled as the giants hand slammed to the ground.

Leo was pushed back, he was dazed a little. He wasn't expecting this. He stood up and looked at Lapis, he face was contorted in anger…what had he done?

"Leo, get out of here! Get away from her!"Pearl yelled from behind.

"Lapis, what are you doing?"Leo asked.

"MY NAME IS LAPIS LAZULI and I will take BACK MY FREEDOM!"She yelled.

"Lapis?"To say Leo was confused was an understatement.

"They won't let us leave, we have to go now."Lapis said as she made a path through the water, separating it.

"Lapis what are you doing? What is all this!?"

"We're going home."Lapis said.

"What are you talking about? Lapis, calm down please! We can settle this ou-"He paused.

Behind him, Garnet had broke free of the water hand and launched herself towards Lapis, she was behind Leo by a foots length. He used Gamma's equipment to see where Garnet was punching. With the fragments help, Leo twisted his whole body to turn towards Garnet and as she got closer and closer he put his arm out. And just before Garnet could steer out of the way, Leo activated his shield, stopping Garnet before she could reach Lapis.

"Don't trust them Leo."Lapis said before she made a massive wave sweep up Leo and Garnet.

When Leo looked back at the beach, Lapis was gone. Leo breathed, he was….he couldn't place a word for it. But…star struck may be a good start.

"Leo."He turned around, Garnet was pissed.

"What were you thinking? Getting the way could have hurt you, or worse that Gem could-"Pearl started.

"You disobeyed an order."Garnet said.

Leo took in what happened, he had stopped Garnet from getting to Lapis. He looked up at them, Garnet and Pearl for intimidating Gems when Leo was on his ass. He didn't know why he did it, he didn't know…no…he did know…they kept Lapis a prisoner. They were the good guys…right?

"No."He said.

"What?"Pearl asked.

"I said no. No like, how could you keep this a secret!?"Leo started to yell.

"Watch your tone L-"

"NO! I won't! You three have been keeping Lapis in a mirror! A Gem just like us!"

"Leo, we didn't…we didn't know. "

"That's bullshit! Over the millennia's you've been on earth, not one second you thought about if the mirror wanted something more than being used?!"Leo asked.

"Leo."Amethyst tried to warn.

"We're the good guys! We're supposed to help Gems like her, not keep them prisoner!"

"You don't know what you're talking about."Garnet said.

"I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about Garnet."

"Leo you-"

"No, I'm done."Leo walked past the three of them.

Leo had been with the Gems for a long time, he expected there to be some secrets they haven't told him…but this….this was too far. But it made Leo think, if they were covering this up…what else could they have not told him?

 **OH MY FUCKING GOD! Okay, you don't how glad I am to be posting this when this comes out for ya'll. Because I was about to finish this, about a hundred more words than BAM! My computer crashes and makes that god awful buzzing noise. But OH MY GOD I was so fucking done, but then..as soon as I started up Microsoft Office Word 2007…THE FANFIC GODS CAME DOWN AND SAID "That's fucked up yo, how about Microsoft saves all that work…just in case?"AND SO IT DID, AND I WASN'T GONNA CRY LIKE A BITCH ABOUT IT! Thank you Word, you helped save this persons dream.**


	23. Water Witch

Expanded Universe

"Leonard Church, I assume you know why we called you here?"Margaret Parangosky asked, as Leo was surrounded by other holograms of U.E.G. and U.N.S.C. officials.

"Yes, I know. The ocean is gone and people are freaking out, I've noticed."Leo said as he pointed to the T.V. in his house blaring updates from across the world.

"The U.E.G. has its eyes on you, Church. In fact, the whole world does. Care to explain why we are in this situation?"Lord Hood asked.

"It's another Gemchurian."Leo said.

"A member of your Crystal Gems?"A U.E.G. politician asked.

"No, this one seems to be really old. Old enough to have been around during the Civil War that happened here, we're talking hundreds of millennia…possibly older."Leo explained.

"If it's that old, why make a move now?"Parangosky asked.

"It was held prisoner within one of our artifacts, it…escaped."Leo said.

"So it was because of you and your team that this happened."Parangosky blamed.

"No, it left by itself."Leo said.

"So it broke free? Were there any attempts to stop it? Surely a single Gemchurian against a well trained team-"

"I believe that's enough Ms. Parangosky, you know what needs to be done Church. Make it happen."The U.E.G. politician said.

"Understood."Leo muttered, as all but Lord Hood left.

"We've had drones scout the ocean for this Gemchurian; needless to say they've made their location easy to spot."Lord Hood said.

"She's in the open?"Leo asked.

A hologram sprung to life, it was a large cylindrical tower.

"The Earths water has been accumulating to this tower; all drones that have tried to attack have been met with swift destruction. We'd rather not send in marines, seeing as how your team does this on a daily basis. The location will be sent to you, we're counting on you Church."He said before he logged off.

Leo exited the comms room in the mayors building, outside stood Dewey, impatiently chewing his nails.

"You can calm down Dewey, the U.E.G. didn't name drop you."Leo said.

"That doesn't mean that they'll get rid of me, those spooks at the O.N.I. don't mess around Church, one minute I can be enjoying dinner with my son…the next I'm on the wrong side of one of their black sites."Dewey chewed faster.

"No, O.N.I. is not gonna abduct you or your son. Just chill out, all this will be over by the end of the day."Leo said.

"You say that, but by the end of the day hundreds, if not thousands, of people might die because of this."

"No, Lap-the Gem won't do that."

"Just hurry out, the Earth is on the brink of collapse."Dewey said.

"I'll return when the jobs done."Leo said.

Leo exited the mayors building and proceeded to walk back to the house. He looked at the data the U.E.G. had sent to him, the tower was massive, almost going into space. He needed to stop this, not only to help the Earth…but to maybe talk some sense into Lapis. She was just as much the victim as anyone, and she needed help. When he reached the beach, he couldn't help but feel a tinge bit of depression. He liked the beach, a lot, now it was gone. He sighed and continued on, the house was nearby and he needed the Gems to be ready.

The Gems….he's always stood by their choices, they were a pinnacle of paragon and now…he didn't know what to think. It was the first time his faith in the Gems has ever waivered. But…they were the good guys…good guys don't keep prisoners.

He pushed I all aside, he needed his head ready. He needed to be able to counter Lapis' hydro-kinesis. Hopefully it they get there before the sun went down, Sigma's equipment would make an excellent counter. He just needed to get out his (incomplete) suits arm brace and attach it to his arm. A flamethrower might be nice, but it'd also be really heavy and more of a burden. These thoughts went into Leo's mind, and as he opened the door to his house he was ready to start assembling these items…that was until he spotted Connie, his father, and Carolina in his living room.

"What are you three doing here?"Leo asked.

"Why else would we be here? Nice friend by the way."Carolina thumbed to Connie.

"Thanks, but this is Gem business. You aren't getting in the cross fire. And Connie why are you here, I thought I said to stay home?"Leo asked as he pulled out a BR55 from the armory.

"Well, I heard you were going out to get back the water, and I thought-"

"No, this will be a live fire situation…most likely I'm the only one gonna be firing but that doesn't mean I can have civilians in the cross fire. Like you two, this is Gem business. Lapis Lazuli is a Gem with immense power; Hydrokinesis isn't something to laugh at. The regular human body is filled with water; if she wanted she could make you explode."Leo said.

"And that makes you any safer?"Connie asked.

"Lapis trusts me; I can leverage that with what I have planned."Leo said.

"I doubt that will work."His father said.

"The point is, I'm going in alone."Leo said as he grabbed the arm brace.

"You're leaving?"He looked behind him, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl stood there.

"Yeah, I'll be going alone."Leo said.

"That's reckless, Lapis-"

"-hates the three of you. You've kept her in a mirror for a long time, and she wouldn't be pleased if I came with her jailors."Leo flexed his hand.

"How are you even gonna get there?"Amethyst asked.

"I have a Mongoose readied, I'm well prepared, and I'll be back by tonight."Leo said as he slid a Magnum into his side holster.

"You'll need our help."Garnet said.

"I don't, I can handle this."Leo sheathed his sword and headed for the door.

Before he could leave, Carolina put her arm in front of him. Leo and Carolina looked at each other, she moved her arm letting Leo exit.

He walked down the stairs and got on the Mongoose. With a turn of the keys, he revved it up and made his way to his target location. The day started getting lower and lower; he only hopped that he can get there with enough light left to use Sigma, if it was necessary.

It took, a few hours but when he got there…he was astonished. The tower of water was almost magical, except that it kinda was. He stopped the Mongoose 10 feet from the tower. When he walked up to the water tower he could see various fishes swimming; there were also a lot of fish bones.

' _The sharks must be having a fun time._ ' Leo thought

"Lapis, are you in there?"Leo shouted.

Slowly, a face formed from the water, it was Lapis.

"What are you doing here?"She asked.

"I want to talk."Leo said.

"Talk? You're a Crystal Gem."

"I stopped Garnet for you; doesn't that give me a bit of credibility?"

"What are those weapons for then?"

"Just for protection."Leo said.

"From me, am I right?"

"Lapis just listen for-"

"No, now leave."The tower was silent.

"Lapis, I can't leave this is kinda my job."He walked up to the tower.

"Lapis please, you aren't making this any easier on yourself. If I can't get you to come down, other U.N.S.C. personnel will."Still no response.

"C'mon Lapis, listen!"He went to slam his fist into the water but was caught.

Out from the tower was a copy of him, except it was made of water. "Well shit." Leo said to himself.

The clone punched him backwards but Leo was able to keep himself up.

"Dammit Lapis! You aren't making this any easier!"Leo shouted.

The clone ran forward as it turned its right arm into a spear head. Leo rolled out of the way and pulled out his BR55 and started to fire. The bullets flew through the clone.

"Of course."Leo sighed.

The clone stabbed at Leo as he used the BR55 as a club, the spearhead arm fell to the ground but was quickly replaced. This time the clone grabbed the Battle Rifle with its other arm and threw it away. Leo brandished his sword and swung, luckily enough it collided with the spearhead but not much else. He swung more times, but the clone would just shrug it off and move for another attack, it was impossible to actually hurt this thing.

Leo found in opening in the clone's recent stab at him, as he dodged he brought down his sword and cut it in two. Unfortunately it didn't stay inanimate as it only grew two more bodies from it.

"Oh go fu-"Leo was about to say as the two clones punched him back.

"Ugh, Sigma, what is your equipment running at?"Leo asked.

"Not enough, the low sun means makes it harder for me to use any of my abilities. You'll have to wait out for it."Sigma said.

"Dammit."Leo got back up.

The two clones started to circle him; he wasn't gonna like getting his ass handed to him by water. He charged forward but was overtaken by a large object that smashed the clone in front of him, it was Garnet.

"Garnet?"Leo asked stupefied.

"Don't forget us, little man!"Amethysts voice rang as she zipped past him in her ball form and crushed the other clone.

"You really didn't think we would let you do this all on your lonesome."Pearl said.

"How did you get here?"Leo asked, still confused.

"We followed you of course."He turned to see Carolina, his dad, and Connie.

"What are they doing here? More importantly why is Connie here!?"Leo asked as he pointed to Connie, standing beside Lion.

"I live on this planet; I'd like to help too."She said.

"More Crystal Gems?"Lapis head appeared.

"Lapis, please-"

"No, I won't hear it. Why won't you just let me leave?!"She yelled as more clones came out, one for each Crystal Gem.

"Alright, all we have to do is wait for Sigma to be done charging. Then I can deal with Lapis."Leo said.

"Crystal Gems, let's go!"Garnet said as she charged her duplicate.

"Alright!"Amethyst cheered on as she engaged her duplicate as well.

Without a word, Pearl started fighting hers as well. Leo looked as his two clones gathered up again, ready to fight.

"Let's go you bastards."Leo said as he charged.

Leo swung furiously at the clones, using his sword to block each of their attack as well as attack on his own.

' _Swing right, left, parry, jab, double up cut, lunge_.' Leo thought in his mind as he attacked the clones.

"Watch it!"Carolina said as she shot one of the clones going for Leo's back.

"I had that!"He yelled back.

Unfortunately, that clone set its sight on the three of them and ran towards them.

"No!"Leo yelled as he kicked back the other clone.

Carolina tried to fight it but it easily pushed her aside and went for Leonard and Connie. It extended its arms out before Leonard could fire a shoot from the Plasma Pistol he had in his pocket. Its arms grew in size and started to encapsulate their heads. The water started to drown them, and he knew Connie could last long underwater.

"Get away from them!"Leo shouted.

"Equipment ready Alpha."Sigma chimed in.

Leo ran under its arms and sliced them on, freeing a choking Leonard and Connie. Leo grabbed the duplicates head and pressed down on it, the arm brace started to burn the water off of the duplicates head and turn it into steam. Its entire body started to boil and was soon nothing but smoke.

"Everyone get down!"Leo yelled as cocked his arm to his opposite hip.

Getting the idea, everyone ducked as Leo swept his arm across the field, turning the other duplicates into steam as well with a large column of fire. He sighed, the sand looked like glass. All around, there were no more clones, and everyone was safe.

"You okay Connie?"Leo asked.

"Yeah, I'm good."She coughed out.

Lion walked up to them, Leo gave him a rub on the head.

"I'll be back."Leo said.

"You're going up there?"She asked.

"I have to get the Earths water back, don't I?"Leo walked up to the water tower.

"Lapis, I'm coming up there, whether you like it or not!"Leo declared and pulled out a rebreather.

He walked into the water and was greeted with a solid platform that rose him up. He passed all the aquatic creatures and other life, and when he got up to the top…it was something else. The stars shined like nothing he'd seen before, but he has seen it before…it was a welcomed sight.

"What are you doing here?"Lapis questioned, holding Leo in a water grip.

"I'm here to get my worlds water back."Leo said.

"And that means going through me."Lapis said, her hair was a little more chaotic than when he last saw her.

"Not necessarily. Look Lapis, I get it, you don't want to stay here. But what you're doing…it's not gonna work. Even with all of this water, you'll never get further that a few miles out of Earth's gravitational pull, if you stretch it enough."Suddenly he was let go, and Lapis sighed.

She walked to the edge of the tower and looked out amongst the stars.

"I just want to go home."She said miserably.

"I do too, but we need this water. Humans can't live without it."Leo said.

She looked down to her knees, depressed.

"I'm stuck here."She said.

"Not necessarily either."She perked up and looked at me.

"What do you mean?"She asked.

"Well, you so happen to have met the only person on this planet who can heal Gems."

"Really?!"Lapis' eyes widened.

"Really."

"You'll do this for me?"Lapis asked.

"Of course, what are friends for?"

"Oh…what do I do?"She asked, presenting her gem.

Leo pulled out a small bottle filled with his saliva. He connected it to his arm brace, and activated a squirt function. Lapis tensed up as she felt it touch her back. For a moment it did nothing, until Lapis' gem started to grow and meld. From her back sprouted two wings made of water and as she turned around her eyes had irises.

"Leo, thank you!"She grabbed Leo's hands.

"Of course, anytime."Leo smiled.

"I can go home."She whispered softly to herself.

Before she left, Leo pulled on her arm.

"Before you go, I…ugh…just…if you ever find yourself on this side of the galaxy, don't hesitate to come visit. Next time I'll show you the cool things Earth has to show."Leo said.

"I don't-"

"Hey, just an option, and don't worry, it'll just me you and me."Leo said.

"If I ever come back here it'll be too soon-"She said.

"-but if I ever _do_ come back, I'll take you up on your offer."She said.

"Deal?"Leo stuck his arm out.

Reluctantly, Lapis did as well, with a smile.

"Deal."She shook.

"Well, off you go, don't let me stop you."Leo said.

"Thank you, Leo."She said as she started to fly off into space.

Leo sighed, heavily, "Wow, what a Gem."

His feet started to shake, he looked down the tower was crumbling.

"Oh son of a bitch."He said.

He didn't have many options, so he jumped. He fell fast, and it didn't help that huge chunks of water were in the way. He dodged a shark that was snapping in mid air, man…would that be a good movie premise.

"LEO!"He looked to his left to see Connie on Lion, falling some 20 feet away from him.

"Crap!"He said.

He tried to lean his body closer to Connie and Lion, dodging water and other fish in the process. He was almost in grabbing reach when Connie started shouting, he couldn't hear but she pointed down. Coming in between them was a large whale; Leo couldn't get out of the way so he did the next best thing: run on top of it. He used the belly of the whale to run off and push off of to get closer to Connie. He extended his arm and far as he could, trying to grab her hand.

"Just a little more!"Leo grunted.

He reached one more time and grabbed her hand and was pulled onto Lion, with Leo on Lion roared to make a portal and put them right beside the others and his fathers car.

"Leo!"The Gems were glad to see them.

"Hold on everybody!"Leo said as he expanded his shield.

 **Back at Beach City**

"Church, so good to see you're back."Lord Hood nodded as Leo entered the video room.

"Jobs done."He said.

"We can see."The U.E.G. politician from before said as he pulled up a Waypoint article about water returning to shores across the world.

"What of the Gem, Lapis Lazuli, what happened to it?"Parangosky asked.

"What's so important about it? It's gone isn't it?"Leo asked.

"This Gem has the ability to take up our entire world's water, we need this under control."

"Well you're a little too late, it's gone."

"Care to elaborate?"The same politician from before asked, Leo really need to know his name.

"It's no longer with us."Leo said.

"I see. Good work than, Church. We'll contact you if we need anything."Parangosky and the U.E.G. spook shut down.

"You let it go didn't you?"Hood asked.

"I'd like to keep this off the books, thank you, Lord Hood."Leo said.

"You did."He said.

"I didn't lie."Leo said.

"Technicality only get's you so far, Church."

"Well let's say I'm milking this baby."

Lord Hood sighed, "In any matter, good work Church. I'm hope we won't have this problem again?"

"No…no we won't."Leo said, thinking about the promise he and Lapis made.

 **AAAAAAAAAAAAND THAT'S A WRAP! We are half way done with this season, woop woop! Okay, so I wanna address something I felt was weird before I finished this. Two stories I follow (Both Steven Universe FF's): Opal, Sapphire, Ruby and STEVEN!, & Steven Diamond (I recommend them, they're a good read, not too long but they're above average) both released Ocean Gem chapters as their recent update. WHICH IS WEIRD cuz now I'm about to update my FF with the Ocean Gem episode. Just wanted to say how weird it was. Another thing, see, I'm bad with writing action, I just can't. But if anyone of you knows how to articulate movement into writing DM me and we can talk. That's enough outta me, you guys enjoy.**


	24. Reach for the Stars

**I think this is gonna be the only main story chapter that isn't 2,000+ words long. So enjoy the subpar chapter.**

Expanded Universe

It's been a week since the Lapis incident, the world is going back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be. But it's a crazy world Leo lives in, and he had to take it as it is. So, to get back to routine, Garnet had a mission planned for the day. See, every once in a while, the gems would check on the status of the Galaxy Warp. Leo once asked Garnet why they don't just fix them, she didn't respond. He have no idea why though, how Pearl explained it, these things could travel anywhere across the galaxy. If these could travel anywhere, why not use them, surely they could be immensely beneficial to the U.N.S.C.? There were just sometimes Leo questioned the logic of his care takers.

"Broken."Garnet declared.

Leo walked over and pulled out spray paint and a stencil with the Greek symbol for 'Alpha' on it. With a quick rattle he sprayed the pink paint on to the warp pad and declared it broken.

"Done, we can go now."Leo said.

"Finally."Amethyst and Garnet walked over to the warp pad.

Leo was about to join, when he saw Pearl staring up into the stars.

"You okay Pearl?"Leo asked.

"Hmm, oh, just a bit of nostalgia."She said.

Leo waved towards Garnet and Amethyst to leave without them, they nod and warp out.

"So, what was it like, the Galaxy Warp I mean?"Leo asked.

"It was beautiful, dozens of Gems of all kinds hustling and bustling out of each and every warp. Each warp would take you somewhere else, somewhere amazing."Pearl sighed.

"You sure do love space."Leo noticed.

"I wish you could have seen it Leo, it was marvelous."Pearl said.

"Well, if you like space so much why not go out there? The Space elevator in New Mombasa could easily get you a ticket to any inner colony system."Leo said.

"Oh, I've tried. The U.E.G. doesn't like Gems being in the public eye too much."

"We could probably get a private ride."Leo said.

"Oh stop it; I'll always have my memories. For now, I'll be here, on Earth."She said.

"Don't forget yours truly."Leo said with a smug look.

"Of course Leo, I'll never forget."She wrapped an arm around Leo's shoulders.

Back at Beach City Leo looked into getting a ride for him and Pearl, maybe a quick trip to Jovian Moons. He called up O.N.I., unfortunately he was turned down. So he turned to some other friends of his.

"Torchwick, I'm calling in for a favor."

"Ah, Church, I was wondering when you'd call."The veteran thief said.

Roman Torchwick and his accomplice Neo; these two are an unstoppable crime spree. Leo never liked resorting to, less than legal ways to get what he wanted. But this was a special occasion. Leo first met the man during his trip to one the further out Inner Colonies, it brought up bad memories but he still remembered him trying to steal from him and his father. Fortunately enough, they were there during the whole ordeal and by way of bribing, got them off of the doomed planet. Leo has kept a business relationship, albeit the prying hands of the thief.

"Look, Roman, I just need you to do me something. Nothing big, just a very small thing."

"And what are the ramifications if we get caught?"

"Probably jail time, for what I'm trying to do…they'll never suspect me to have any contact with you."Leo said.

"We're on a secure line?"

"I'm not an amateur Roman."

"Just making sure."He said defensively.

"I need you to buy me two tickets to the Jovian moon."Leo said.

"That's it?"

"Look, I'm not permitted to leave since what happened last time. Can you get me them and disguise our entrance or not?"

"Alright alright, I'll need payment of course."

"Physical or-"

"Of course physical, no need to tip off any authority."

"How much this time?"

"Hmm, this is a pretty easy job…make it 300cR* and we're good."

"Same drop off?"

"Sure, me and Neo aren't in any heat right now. I'll have her pick it up next week."

"Alright, message me when you have those tickets."

"Of course."

"Goodbye Roman."Leo closed his comm. Pad.

He put it away in his pocket; it'll take some time for Neo to get them for him. So for now, Leo guessed he should go to his fathers and waste time there.

 **At the Church household**

"Anyone here?"Leo asked as he entered the house.

"Over here."The monotonous voice of Blake rang in the living room.

"Hey Blake, where is dad and Carolina?"He asked.

"Went to go get groceries."She said as she lied on the couch reading a book.

"Cool."Leo said as he sat on the couch.

Leo picked up the remote and turned on the T.V., nothing good was on so he left it on some mindless channel.

"So, Blake, ugh, you've done some less than legal things before."Blake peaked out of her book to look at Leo.

"What are you doing?"She asked.

"Well, you remember that…incident I once told you about a while ago?"

"Yes, you described it in horrific detail."

"Yeah well, as you know, I'm not allowed to leave Earth, and-"

"You're asking me how to get passed U.E.G. spaceport security without being spotted."She assumed

"Yeah."Leo said.

"Let me guess, you asked Roman for help."Blake said with some disgust.

"Correct again."

"That man's a crook; he manipulated the Insurrectionist for his own gain multiple times."

"Well, he's the best crook I know that can get me and Pearl tickets to the Jovian moons."

"Why are you and Pearl going to the Jovian moons?"

"Well, Pearl really misses space so I thought it'd be nice for the two of us to take a quick trip and come back by the end of the day."

"So it's not actually about _going_ to Jovian, but about the trip?"

"Pretty much."

"That's cliché."

"Don't tell me it's not a little heartwarming."

"I bet it is."Blake said as she delves back into her book.

Leo's comm. Pad vibrated, he looked at it. It was a picture message from Neo showing the ticket code.

"Good talk, I'll see you later."He said as he started to leave.

 **Beach House**

"Pearl, can I talk to you!"Leo shouted as he entered the house.

The Temple door opened up to Pearl.

"Yes Leo?"She asked.

"Hey Pearl, I was wondering…how badly do you want to head back into space?"Leo asked.

"Why are you asking?"She asked suspiciously.

"I may or may not have acquired tickets for a towards and back trip to the Jovian Moons."

"Why did you do that?"She asked.

"Well, I thought that maybe you'd like to be out there for once. You sounded really depressed back at the galaxy warp; I just wanted you to get that spark of excitement from space."

"Leo that's…really nice of you, but I don't need space."

"Wait, why not?"Leo asked.

"Because I have you here, and being here with you is better than trip to space."Pearl smiled.

"Wow, well that's 300cR down the drain."Leo said.

"Oh Leo, thank you. I'm sorry I gave the impression that lead to this."

"That's okay; I gotta make a few calls, be right back."Leo said as he exited the door.

Pearl wiped a tear from her face; sometimes Leo really knew how to be kind.


	25. Coincedence

Expanded Universe

"All I'm saying is, we can make a game where we all turn into me a freak out a bunch of visitors."Leo said.

"I'm down for it."Amethyst said, shape shifting into Leo.

"I think I like my version better."Garnet said, looking at her version of Leo.

"What about you Pearl, care to join in?"Leo asked.

"No thank you, I'm content with staying myself."She said.

"Boo."Amethyst said.

"If you need me, I'll be inside doing the laundry."Pearl said as she went inside the house.

"Whatever, I'll be messing with the towns' people."Amethyst said as she walked into town.

"It's more fun with people."Garnet said as she shape shifted back to her regular form.

"Well, it was a try. I'm gonna head over and get a donut."Leo said.

As Leo left the beach he spotted Ronaldo, the Frymans oldest son, using a binocular to look at the cliff side. Ronaldo was always a weird one, being 20 years old and still believing in ghost and other things. Well…Leo did live in a world where magical space rocks can perform feats of impossibility and other things that break the concept of reality, so Leo gave him a pass on that.

"Yo, Ronaldo, what are you doing?"Leo asked.

"You may only pass with my permission!"He yelled from his rock.

"I'm just gonna walk up to you."Leo said.

"Permission granted!"

Leo walked up to Ronaldo, who was wearing something that would be akin to a hunter's outfit and a satchel right next to him.

"So Ronaldo, whatcha lookin' at?"Leo asked.

"See those marks on the wall; see how they repeat the same pattern over and over again across this cliff side. This can't be any ordinary coincidence."

Leo looked at the cliff side, they looked vaguely familiar.

"So, what do you think they are?"Leo asked.

"You'd know if you kept up with my blog, Keep Beach City Weird."He showed me his comm. Pad.

"Blog?"Leo asked, this didn't sound good.

"Yeah, you can't always trust facts and books; I'm out here hunting the real truth. I document everything that happens in Beach City."

"Everything?"This was not sounding good at all.

"Of course!"Nope, not one bit.

"Hey, Ronaldo, mind showing me the things you've 'documented'?"Leo asked.

"Sure, right this way, I have Peedee covering for me."Ronaldo packed up and left.

' _This is not good; Ronaldo is possibly leaking something that may actually get him killed! Things that happen here stay here, if O.N.I. hears about this…he had to stop Ronaldo before he leaks something that will get his whole family killed_ '

"And here we have strange crystal, by the knowledge I've gathered, these come from deep underground where no man has come from."Ronaldo showed off a group of red rocks, Leo deduced it to be the Red Eye he and the Gems destroyed a while ago.

"Anything else?"Leo asked.

"Leo, I feel you have a taste for the truth. Something only people like us have."

"Yeah, 'people like us'. Can you just show me what else you've found?"

"This way, this one has been around the longest. It's right behind the Big Donut."We walked back towards the Big Donut to see the garbage containers.

"What is it?"Leo asked.

"Don't you see? These!"He pointed to a group of flowers hanging onto the containers.

Those were from his mothers moss, which he treated every once and a while.

"From a website I am both a reader and editor of, these are not indigenous to Beach City, or this universe-verse-verse-verse-verse."

"You done?"

"Ahem, follow me."Ronald said.

"See Leo, these discoveries I make are largely discredited and thrown out, no one will listen. But you, you have that same strike for the truth like I do, the Covenant aren't the problem. My discoveries will save mankind from the brink, they will usher in a new golden age for mankind, and when future historians look back at this day they'll say 'Man, Ronaldo was the only one who saw through all the conspiracy and cover ups. He was our true savior…and his pal Leo too.'"

"Ronaldo, I-"

"Here we are my office."Ronaldo proclaimed as the two came up to the old lighthouse.

"Office?"Leo was genuinely afraid, for Ronaldo that is.

"Let me show you. I've compiled hundreds of credits of yarn to make this master piece."Ronaldo said as the two made their way up the stairs.

"Here is my office, as you can see. I have linked hundreds of events to make up one consistent truth that binds them all. Leo, do you ever wonder why we're here?"

"Are you asking metaphorically or metaphysically?"

"I have the answer, the reason why we're all here…SNEEPLE, snake people!"Ronaldo said as he flip the chalk board to show tons of photos with pin needles sticking them up and yarn connecting each one in a large web.

"Ronaldo, I'm gonna need you to stop."Leo said.

"Is all this getting to you? It did for me too, don't worry you get used to it, the truth is never-"

"Ronaldo I'm not joking around, you _need_ to stop."Leo said.

"Why?"Ronaldo asked.

"I'm gonna be blunt with you Ronaldo, the Office of Naval Intelligence doesn't like people leaking their private parts. And if they ever got a hint at what you post on waypoint, they won't be happy."

"What do those spooks have to do with this?"

"Ronaldo, I'm telling you this for your best interests, drop this."Leo said as he left.

"Leo, Leo!"Ronaldo called out.

Leo sighed as he exited the old light house and slowly fell from the cliff to his house. He hoped that had gotten to Ronaldo, he honestly did. He really liked Peedee, he was a good kid, and their fry shop was pretty good to-but that's not the point! Ronaldo was walking on some thin ice, and he was afraid it might crack. As Leo entered his house, he could see Amethyst taking something out of the fridge and eating it, she still looked like him.

"Amethyst, why are you still shaped like me?"Leo asked.

"Ugh, why not?"She asked.

"Never mind."He sighed as he sat on the couch.

He didn't go 5 minutes before there was a knock on his door, Leo got back up and opened it, and it was Ronaldo.

"Ronaldo, what are you doing here?"Leo asked.

"I'm here…to talk…to you…gah."Ronaldo panted.

"Are you okay?"Leo asked.

"Long…run…"Ronaldo stood up right.

"Look Ronaldo, I meant what I said back at the-"

"Leo, we make a good team please don't-agh!"Ronaldo freaked out, I turned around to see Amethyst was still shape shifted like me.

"Yo, what's the Frymans son doing here?"She questioned.

"Amethyst you're scarring him, go back inside the temple."Leo said.

"Whatever."She formed back into herself and went back inside.

"Ronaldo listen to me, all the weird stuff that happens here is because of us. Those red rocks, us, those wild flowers, us, the holes in the cliff…us."Leo shook his shoulders.

"R…really?"Ronaldo asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry but they're because of us. Now listen to me, all that stuff you posted on waypoint, take it all down."

"Okay."Ronaldo said, depressingly.

"Good, now you should really go back to your dads shop. I'm sure he needs you."Leo pointed away.

"Okay."He walked away, head low.

Leo had to make a call to O.N.I., he didn't want Ronaldo picked up. He picked up his Comm. Pad and called Parangosky, although it was a pain to talk to her it was needed.

"Church, what do you want?"She asked.

"Parangosky, I have a favor to ask."

"No."

"Look just here me out. There may or may not be photos of things me and the Gems did on Waypoint. Now I know you may be furious-"

"We know."

"Wait, what?"Leo asked.

"You are referring to Ronaldo Fryman correct; we've been keeping track of his Waypoint usage for quite a while now. All things he uploads are immediately set to an offsite server that is than disposed of properly. No worries, we have that under control."

"Really? Oh thank god, I was thinking I might have to beg you to do it. Okay, thanks bye."Leo closed his Comm. Pad.

As soon as he put it away, he felt it vibrate again. He picked it up to see that it was Peedee who was calling.

"Yo Peedee, what's up?"

"Hey, Leo, um…what did you do to Ronaldo?"

"What?"

"Yeah, he's been skulking around the shop since he got here a few minutes ago. Whenever I ask him what's wrong, all he tells me is that he stopped 'believing'. I've seen you've been with him most of the day so I called you to ask why he's like this."

"Oh, well, I guess I made him stop believing in all those crack job theories he keeps on making up."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"You couldn't, perhaps, be able to make him go back would you?"

"What? Why would I do that?"

"Because he's just not the same, Ronaldo might have been a pain to deal with but he's still my brother. I can't deal with him being so depressed, plus he does less work than usual. Can you fix him?"Peedee asked.

"Ugh, I guess, lemme think….Oh I think I know, just dress up as a snake."

"A snake?"

"Yeah, Ronaldo was apparently into some sort of snake people theory. If you show him that he might just revert back to normal…I guess I'm no psychiatrist."

"Thanks for the advice Leo, I call you later."

"Sure Peedee, good luck."Leo said as he closed his Comm. Pad finally.

He sat down on the couch and finally started to watch some T.V.

"Y'know what, I'm gonna take a nap. Today was just a little too exhausting."Leo said as he lied down on the couch and snoozed off.

Leo enjoyed his dream; he was relaxing in a pool made of jello. Not the red jello, screw that, he was in a pool made of pink jello. Who wouldn't love a pool made of their favorite color. He swam in it, he ate it, he lied down on it…it was the best kind of dream.

"Leo, Leo."The pool said sleepily.

"Ah, yes pool?"Leo asked.

"Wake up Leo."It said.

"But I don't want to, you taste too good."He said as he bit down on the jello again.

"Leo that hurts."

"Ssssh, be quiet pool."Leo salivated.

"Leo, wake up, please, you need to see this. I've found a snake person."

Leo opened his eyes at the sound of snake people, he looked down…he was biting down on Ronaldo's arm. He looked up, there he was…in his house. Leo let go and proceeded to go clean his mouth with everything he had. Five minutes later, Leo was back out ready to ask why Ronaldo was in his house.

"Why are you here?"Leo asked.

"Like I said, I've found a snake person!"

"Cool cool, go post about it on your blog."Leo said.

"You don't get it, I've captured him."Leo stopped and turned back towards Ronaldo.

"What?"Leo asked.

"Come, follow me."Ronaldo said.

So Leo did, as he woke up he got a clearer picture of what Ronaldo looked like. His hair was all kinds of messed up, his eyes looked rabid, and he just generally looked disheveled. Leo brought out his Comm. Pad; he hadn't gotten a call from Peedee since he called earlier today. As Leo and Ronaldo entered the lighthouse, he could understand why. There, tied up on a chair, was Peedee in a snake outfit.

"Ronaldo what are you doing!?"Leo asked.

"I'm gonna prove that I'm right, that the Snake People _do_ exist!"Ronaldo said.

"Ronaldo this is Peedee!"He said.

"Ha, don't worry, the snake person already tried that, it didn't work."Ronaldo looked all smug.

"Ronaldo I'm not joking around that is actually Peedee."Leo said as he started to unite him.

"Leo what are you doing, that isn't-oh, I see what's going on. You're a snake person who came to rescue his fellow brethren!"Ronaldo shouted.

"Ronaldo what are you-"

"I've been waiting for this day, snake. I've prepared myself with the best armor this planet has to offer!"He opened his shirt to reveal some sort of cartoon armor…it wasn't real.

"Hiyaaa!"Ronaldo yelled as he threw a punch Leo deflected.

"Ha, you snake's are more skilled than I thought. But not after this, next punch, HIYAAAA!"Ronaldo yelled again.

Leo set free Peedee and blocked Ronaldo's punch with his palm. Ronaldo recoiled back, his hand obviously hurt.

"Ronaldo, can you stop? Look this is Peedee!"Leo said as he pointed to the youngest Fryman.

"P…Peedee?"Ronaldo looked at his younger brother.

"Sorry Ronaldo, I dressed up like this so you can…y'know, go back to your old self. I didn't mean to take it this far."Peedee said.

"So, I was still wrong."Ronaldo fell to the ground.

"Well crap."Leo crossed his arms.

There was a bit of quiet before Peedee picked up a few photos and walked over to Ronaldo.

"Well, what about these, they look suspicious enough."He said.

"Forget about, those two would never meet. That one is a level 4 ground breeder and that…wait a minute. But that…wait wait I gotta put this together."Ronaldo said as we cleared his desk and placed a bunch of pictures side by side.

"If I look at it this way than, but that would mean…PEEDEE YOU'RE A GENIUS!"Ronaldo laughed as he hugged his brother.

"This opens up a whole new area of discussion, something that no one else has talked about. This could actually be the cause of that one event I was talking about yesterday!"

"I'm guessing he's back to normal?"Leo asked.

"Yep, thanks a lot."Peedee said.

"Hey, he's your crazy brother."Leo shrugged before he started to leave the lighthouse.

"IT'S A RACE OF PRECURSSOR ALIENS THAT FORGED MASSIVE RINGS THAT COULD WIPE OUT ALL LIVING MATTER! THEY ARE REAL! AND THEY'RE COMING BACK."

Leo chuckled, what could he say…Ronaldo was just a crack pot theorist.

 **Yeah, crack pot.**


	26. Nuclear Family

**So, how are you guys doing? I know I've been away for a while; I've been busy and just haven't gotten around to writing. But here I am, sorry. Anyway, just to note, I did have a W.B.C. lined up but I thought "These guys have been waiting awhile for a new chapter and I've been kinda stumped with this chapter, so let's skip it for now and continue the main plot." So here we are, enjoy.**

Steven Universe

"This is so~ good!"Connie threw her arms up.

"I surprisingly don't hate it."Leo said.

"Under the Knife has been awarded for 3 Globies, how can you not like it?"Connie asked.

"Well, most hospital dramas get really stale with just so much drama. Like, c'mon Margaret, you're a doctor stop sleeping with Johnny in the locker rooms that's gross!"Leo complained.

"Fair point."Connie said.

"Freaking…Margaret is the one who should have been fired."Leo said.

"So, do you have anything important to do today?"Connie asked.

"Nah, all my mission reports have been filed, we haven't had any calls about any Corrupted. So I think we're good."Leo said.

"That's great; we can finish season 3 by toni-"Connie's rang.

"Your mom?"Leo asked.

"Yeah, hold on."She raised her comm. Pad up to her ear and answered.

"Hello mother this is Connie. Yes, I am at the Church house-hold. You...would like to speak to his mother?"Connie looked to Leo.

Leo shrugged, "One moment please."Connie said as she muted the comm. Pad.

"What do we do?"She asked.

"I don't know. Doesn't she know I don't have a mother?"Leo said as he got up.

"Well…you see…"Connie rubbed her neck.

"What did you say to her?"Leo asked.

"I told her you had a nuclear family."She admitted.

"One, why did you tell her that? Two, that scarily describes my family."Leo said.

"Well I didn't know what to say. ' _Hey mom, my new best friend is a different species than I am and belongs to the Office of Naval Intelligence and happens to fight monsters on the weekly._ '?"Connie looked at Leo looking for an answer.

"Well if you put it like that it makes me sound bad."Leo said.

"What do we do?"Connie asked.

"Uuuuugh…"Leo looked around the room, luckily enough Garnet just entered from the temple.

"Garnet, I need your help. Pretend like you're my mom, which honestly isn't that hard."Leo said as he handed her the comm. Pad.

"Hello…this is Mom-Church…yes, the children are playing swords….playing _with_ swords, oh no, they are dead…don't call back again. Sorry, I hesitated."Garnet said as she hand back the comm. Pad."Leo and Connie only stared at her…they were screwed.

Connie's comm. Pad rang again, she sighed, "I'll just…see you later, Leo."

"Yeah, I think that'd be best."Leo said.

"Sorry."She apologized.

"It's okay, we'll work this out."Leo sighed and went upstairs; hopefully tomorrow will prove to be a better day with Connie.

 **TOMORROW**

"Sorry Leo, I can't visit."Connie said through the video chat Leo set up on Waypoint.

"Why?"He asked.

"My mom isn't happy about yesterday, she wants to meet your parents…get all this sorted out."She said.

"Aw crap."Leo said as he back on his chair.

"I'm sorry Leo, I tried to change her mind but she wouldn't budge."

Leo sighed, "Hey 'D'."

"Yes?"Delta asked as he appeared on Leo's computer.

"Leo what are you doing?"Connie asked.

"What better way to get out families to meet than with a dinner."Leo said.

"That sounds perfect, but...what are we going to do with about the whole 'nuclear family' thing?"Connie asked.

"Don't worry, I'll figure that out. "Leo said.

"Alright, so where are you planning to go with this 'dinner'?"Connie asked.

"Yo Delta, show me some nice restaurants around here."Leo said.

"Pulling up a map."Delta said as the right side of the monitor was filled with local restaurants.

"Let's do~ that one."Leo selected one of the restaurants.

"Would you like me to call and make reservations?"Delta asked.

"Would you kindly, oh and can you send Connie the address?"Leo asked smirking.

Connie's comm. Pad rang in the background of her video, when she picked it up she couldn't believe what Leo picked.

"Leo, this place is really expensive…like…4 star!"She said.

"I want to make a good impression, what better way than a nice restaurant?"

"Are you sure? I don't want us dragging you down on the cost, we can pay-"

"Connie it's alright, my dad made more than enough money from the research he has done to dwarf the costs, plus we still get revenue from the Office."

"I don't know, _my_ dad doesn't really like people paying for him unless it's my mom."Connie rubbed the back of her neck.

"Tell him it's on the house. Look, I'm gonna try and make it extremely comfortable for all of us. Don't worry about a thing, if something comes up, I can lie my way out of it."

"You are a good liar."She said.

"Just tell your parents to come at 7; I'll get my "parents" ready by then, bye Connie."

"Alright, see you then Leo."

"Delta, call dad for me, tell him to meet me over here."Leo said.

"Understood."Delta said.

Leo walked out of his room and to the temple, he knocked on the door. Out came Amethyst, "Yo, wassup Leo?"

"Amethyst, I need you to grab the others."Leo said.

"Why?"She asked.

"We're going on a mission."

"Oh, so when did you start making missions?"She leaned against the frame.

"Just get the gems."Leo said.

"Alright, be back in a sec."Amethyst said as she walked inside.

Leo sat in the living room for 5 minutes before all three gems came out.

"What's this I hear about a mission?"Pearl asked.

"Okay, so here's why I have brought all of you here today. Yesterday, after hanging out here, Connie's parents weren't very eager to send her back to hang out and now they want to meet. Unfortunately, they believe I have both a father _and_ a mother. So, in order to fulfill it, I need one of you to act as my mother."Leo said.

All the gems looked a bit, reluctant at the idea, "Leo, are you sure this is a good idea?"Pearl asked.

"Of course it is, trust me."Leo answered.

The door opened to Leo's father, Leonard, "What's this I hear about a family dinner?"He asked.

"Good, you're here too. Did Delta tell you everything already?"

"Did Delta tell me you planned on going to an expensive restaurant with your friends family in the meanwhile masquerading one of the gems as my wife a.k.a. your mother all in an in order to gain their in order to hang out again? If so, than yes, I did."

"Good, now I just need to decide which one of you to choose."Leo looked at all of them.

"It's your choice dude."Amethyst said.

"Let's start with Garnet. You have the best maternal instincts, knowing when to be playful and restrictive, very protective as well. Something a mother would do, although not great at conversation. Hmmm…"Leo said.

"Amethyst."Leo moved on.

"Wassup?"

"You're cool, very lax, and funny as well. Except you're kinda…"He stopped when she started picking her (used-to-be-non-existent) nose.

"Yeah, well I don't think they like nose picking. Anyway, lastly we have Pearl. Amazing maternal instincts, you worry about me a lot; you act just like any mother would. You just don't eat, probably the least problematic thing amongst the three of you."Leo said.

"So, who's It gonna be Leo?"Leonard asked.

Leo thought over it…all senses pointed towards Pearl but…these were the gems after all. They were all by proxy his mother; it just didn't feel right picking only _one_. They all effected how he looked at life and how he acted ignoring the other two just didn't feel right.

"Aw crap."Leo said as he scratched his head.

"What's wrong?"Pearl asked.

"I can't bring only one of you."Leo said.

"Why not?"Amethyst asked.

"Because it doesn't feel right, ignoring the other two just doesn't feel right. Ah this sucks."Leo said.

An idea popped into his head, a very crazy idea, "Hey, how big is-"

"Too large Leo, our fusion isn't the best of ideas."Garnet answered before he could finish.

"Crap."He said.

"What do we do now?"Leonard asked.

"Well, I guess we all go, individually."Leo said.

"But didn't you say they expect a mother and father?"Pearl asked.

"I got that under control, O.N.I. didn't teach me speech craft for nothing."Leo said nonchalantly.

"When do you want to go?"

"What time is it?"

"6."Leonard said.

"We should get ready fast than, leave as soon as possible."Leo said.

"Alright, meet me over at the house whenever you are done."Leonard said.

"Gotcha."

"What about us?"Pearl asked.

"Just look your finest."Leo said.

 **At the restaurant**

Connie's parents were getting a little anxious. Priyanka and Doug weren't the most patient to begin with; waiting in a fancy restaurant was not at the top of their list.

"Connie, are you sure they are coming?"Her mother asked.

"Yeah, of course, he said he was on his way."

"Well it's been 20 minutes."Her father said as he looked at his watch.

"I'm sure he'll be here any moment now."Connie assured them.

' _Where are you, Leo?_ 'Connie thought as they sat at the table.

"Mister and Misses Pujaarin, so glad to meet you. My apologies, traffic was abysmal on our way here."A voice said with a very cocky attitude.

Connie looked up, and there stood Leo. He wore a black sports jacket and slacks, behind him stood Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl wearing formals attire. Next to Leo was his father Leonard who wore a more formal suit.

"You're Leonard Church!"Her mother looked astonished.

"Yes, I am, am I correct to assume you know my work?"

"Um, yes! I had to re-do a whole year of college because of your work in Xeno and human biology."She out-stretched her hand to Leo's father.

"Thank , but I am not the only one to take credit, my associate is also to be rewarded."He shook her hand.

Connie for the most part was also taken back; she's never seen her mother act like this before.

"As you know, this is my father, Leonard Church. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Leo Quartz Church, his son."Leo put his hand out for her father.

"Hello Leo, my name is Doug, this is my wife Priyanka. Please, sit."He shook his hand.

So everyone was situated, Connie's family on one side of the table while Leo's was on the other.

"So, you've yet to introduce us to the rest of your party ."Doug pointed to the Gems.

"Oh, this is Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. They are my god-mothers."Leo said.

"My impression was you were going to bring your mother."Doug said.

"I have to make a confession . I lied to your daughter."Leo said.

Connie raised her eyebrow, where was Leo taking this?

"Excuse me?"Priyanka asked.

"It's a little bit of a tear jerker, when I was born my mother had some issue which unfortunately resulted in her passing. Although she passed away, she left behind three of the most amazing people on this planet. These are my god-mothers, very wonderful people."Leo said, he sounded…sad.

Connie knew it was fake, but even she had to tear up a little. Leo wasn't lying when he said he was a good liar.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"No, its fine, we've moved on."Pearl said.

"Honestly, no hard feelings."Amethyst brushed it off.

"So, how about we eat?"Leo rubbed his hands together and looked at the menu.

The rest of the dinner went well, Leo acted vibrantly, making jokes, and generally being very pleasing according to Connie's parents. Connie was very relieved at how well the dinner went, her parents would be less likely to suspect any of the magical weirdness coming from Leo and the Gems. By the end of the night Connie was in her parent's car driving home, but she had to make sure that everything went off without with a hitch.

"So, mom, does this mean I can still go see Leo?"She asked.

"Of course Connie, of course. Only as long as you keep your grades up though."Priyanka answered.

"Yes mother."She smiled.

 **I've been a terrible person, I haven't updated in SO long. I am sincerely sorry; I've just been a little busy and lazy. I hope to make more chapters soon, see you next time.**


	27. Battlefield Operations

**Months Ago...**

"Your mission is to retrieve a DSD in the hands of a group of marines. Primary objective: safely retrieve the DSD."Carolina's dispatcher said.

"What about the marines?"She asked as she prepared for the mission.

"They are optional, in all honesty agent, they'll slow you down. It would be best if you left them, however it is you call just bring back the DSD."

"Understood."Carolina said as she connected her plasma rifle to her hip.

"Good luck agent."The connection severed.

Carolina stood up and walked up the cockpit, her pilot pointed down at an open area.

"I'll drop you off there, but it has to be fast, Covenant forces are quickly approaching the area and I need to not be here when they do."The man said.

"I'll make it fast."Carolina said as she left the Pelican.

She flexed her shoulders, the armor she was given fit her well but needed some getting used to (it didn't hurt that she was really liking the design). She looked around; Pelicans were coming and going picking up wounded and civilians. She's seen this a dozen times over, civilians crying and yelling, people demanding to be let on, marines with that tense stare, total anarchy. Unlike them, she had a mission to complete.

Carolina walked up to the closest person she thought was in charge, "Soldier, I need your help."

"Look lady, I know you're scared but we have-holy shit!"The guy turned around to see Carolina.

"I'm looking for Delta Squad, they have something important and I've been sent here to get it."Carolina said.

"Delta? Fuck, come with me."The man waved them to a make shift command center.

In the middle was a tabletop map of the area, green pinpoints was spread across the northern half of the map with a red bar pushing them back.

"All of our forces are pushing back Covenant forces across our northern front, however Delta is here."He pointed to a far west position.

"What are they doing there?"She asked.

"An order came from high up to send a squad to find a certain object they neglected to disclose to anyone other than Delta, chances are it's what you're looking for as well."

"Why haven't they come back yet?"

"They were ambushed; a few Covenant Spirits apparently got curious and started dropping forces there. I've tried sending some of my men but we're too overwhelmed to even get a squad that isn't in a shit position. We can lend you a warthog but whatever else you gotta find or bring with you."The C.O. said.

"Anything else I need to know?"

"They already lost a few men and I think more reinforcements are on their way, they'll be gunned down in no time."

"Perfect."She muttered.

"I'll have some of the volunteers bring your ride around for you, feel happy to prepare or whatever you Spartans do before going into battle."He said as he left the command center.

Carolina exited as well and brought up her comms, "Bad news, we'll be here for a while."She told her pilot.

"What happened?"

"The marines are held up in the O.N.I. building, I'm going to go and save them."

"Alright, just hurry up, Covenant forces are holding back."

"Got it."She said as the warthog came around the corner of the base.

"Here you go Spartan, one warthog ready to go."The civilian said.

"Thanks."Carolina nodded as she hopped in the vehicle.

She gunned it out the F.O.B. and proceeded to make her way towards the O.N.I. building. Far out to her right she could see the blazing orange skies of the battle, she turned her eyes towards the road when her radio blared.

"This is Delta Squad, my squad is pinned within the O.N.I. research building five miles from the Forward Operating Base. I have three casualties, there is only four of us left and we're running low on ammo. Please, we need support!"

"Dammit."Carolina pushed the car faster; she needed to get their now.

 **Delta Squad**

Delta was having a shit day, the squad had been running on 4 hours of sleep when the Covenant invasion started, they've been running around the battlefield collecting citizens, and now they were picked to retrieve a simple package that now resulted in the lives of three of their men. As C.O. of Delta Squad, he was sure to check this as his biggest failure.

"I only have two mags left."His 2nd in command, Roy, said as he loaded his battle rifle.

"Same."He said.

"Well, this is not how I expected to go."Roy chuckled.

"How did you expect it to go?"He asked as he took a pot shot at a jackal.

"Preferably of old age, maybe with a good wife holding my hand, filled with a room full of my closest friends and loved ones. You?"Roy said as he shot at another jackal.

"Well…I expected to die like this."

"Really? You expected to die running some stupid retrieval op for O.N.I. and not know why?"Roy looked at him.

"Pretty much, it was bound to happen sometime."

"Can't argue there."Roy said.

"Just didn't expect it to happen this-"He was cut off as a loud blast shook him and Roy and pushed them to the ground.

"What the hell?!"Roy looked to where the blast originated.

Across from them, a massive scorch mark covered the other room across from them, the room that held Reese and Octavia.

"No…"Roy said.

"Dammit."

"We gotta get out of here."Roy said.

"Where can we go? This stupid hallway is a one-way only, they only need to push a little more and they'll be right on us."

"Dammit!"Roy yelled.

"It's been a pleasure, Roy."

"Yeah….yeah, same here lov-"Roy was cut off at the last second.

Blood splattered on his face and looked up, Roy took a carbine round to the head….he was dead.

' _Sorry mom, dad.'_ There was only one thing left to do; he pulled out his last grenade, ready to pull the pin as soon as the Covenant came in the same room.

An elite entered the room, big and tall, white armor, he looked like a higher rank than the normal elite. It pulled out its energy sword…two actually. It tossed one to him and activated its own.

" "He didn't understand, but he could get the gist of what it wanted.

The energy sparked in one hand, and a grenade behind his back…this was his last stand.

The elite roared and went to run at him before it stopped in his tracks and fell to its knees. From behind the massive elite was none other than a Spartan.

"You okay soldier?"Carolina asked.

"Holy shit, they actually sent someone."He muttered.

"I'm actually here for something. The DSD, do you have it?"

"Oh, and I thought you Spartans did things out of the kindness of your heart."The survivor said as he tossed her the DSD.

"I saved you; I could have easily killed the Zealot when it had its energy sword 3 feet deep into your heart."Carolina said as she inspected the DSD for damage.

"Whatever, I just watched my team die; I hope whatever is on their important enough to waste 6 lives."

"Trust me, it is."Carolina had no clue if it was.

"Fine, let's go."

"You gotta name marine?"Carolina asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because I don't want to keep calling you marine."Carolina said as she slipped the DSD into a secure pocket.

"Call me-"A blast rumbled the building, but she could make out the name from the explosion.

"Alright Don, we need to get out of here."Carolina said as she made her way out.

"Wait th-! "Don said as Carolina was almost shot by a beam rifle.

"Fuck!"Carolina swore loudly as she backed off.

"-ere are snipers."Don said.

"Dammit."

"How did you make it past them?"Don questioned?

"Epsilon, you ready?"

Don looked at her, who was Epsilon?

"Let's do it. Don, when I say run, get to some cover."Carolina said.

"What are you doing?"Don asked.

"Run!"Carolina ran around the corner, and charged.

"Engaging speed boost!"Epsilon said in her helmet.

Carolina sped up faster and proceeded to kick the living shit out of anything in her way; the snipers were down faster than they could fire. Don ran for cover and shot at the nearest elite in an attempt to kill something, he wasn't some hopeless damsel. When he _did_ kill the elite, everything else was dead.

"Holy shit."Don commented on the shear brutality as the two exited the building.

"How many?"Carolina asked.

"What?"Don asked.

"Anything helpful? Really? Okay, get me access."Who the hell was this lady talking to?

"We got good news, and double bad news."

"That's just regular news today."Don said.

"Bad news one, Spirits and Phantoms are making their way here to kill us. Bad news two, the front line has been broken, Covenant are making their way to the F.O.B. and they have a Scarab."

"Well shit, that is bad news. What's the good news?"Don asked.

"We have a tank."Carolina said as a nearby garage door opened to reveal a black scorpion tank.

"Well, you know what they say 'Tank beats everything.'."Don said.

"Get on the gunner, I'll drive and fire the main cannon."

"Got it."Don said as he entered the machine gunner.

"Don't get killed will you."Carolina said.

"Don't plan on it."He said as Carolina started moving the scorpion, which actually moved faster than a snail.

They were moving fine, until the phantoms and ghosts came. The aircrafts started shooting at the Scorpion; Carolina took those down with her main cannon. The ghosts were Don's problem, it was easy enough but at the speed those ghosts maneuvered they were hard to hit.

"On your right!"Carolina yelled into the radio.

Don turned a good 40 degrees to see a ghost to about to ram them. A couple of seconds shooting at the front of the ghost made it explode, killing the pilot. He looked up, the main cannon was doing work. Phantom and Spirit came and came and were shot down as the Spartan fired at their weak points. Don got back to shooting ghosts; those were more simple, point and shoot.

"Hey, if we make it out of here, beers on me!"Don yelled.

"Up front!"Carolina yelled as Don moved the machine gun to the incoming ghost.

The tank lurched; he looked behind him a spirit shot their main cannon to shit.

"Fuck!"They were defenseless.

Don was pondering what to do, he looked at the horizon…it was the F.O.B.

"This is Delta Squad, I am in tow on a Scorpion tank on our way to the F.O.B. our main cannon is dead, we are defenseless! We need help!"Don yelled into the mic.

At first nothing, they were getting pounded, and there wasn't anything they could do.

"We hear you delta, you might wanna cover your ears."From his left he could see a pelican swooping in from the sky.

"Watch your heads Delta!"He heard.

The Pelican fired a few volleys of missiles and took down the remaining Phantoms and Spirits.

"You're free to go Delta, now hurry up and get to base, we're evacuating now!"The base captain yelled.

Don looked to the where the front line used to be, hundreds of thousands of Covenant vehicles and troops made their way to the base, including a couple of Scarabs. When they made it to the base, there was only one Pelican left.

"Hurry!"The pilot yelled.

The Covenant were making their way close, and the Scarabs were firing into the air, trying to knock down any Pelican they can.

"Move, I'm taking off now!"Carolina said.

Don made a mad dash to the Pelican, like his life depended on it, because it did. There were people in the Pelican, if he didn't make it in time they'd all die too! Don pushed harder; he needed to get their faster.

"Don!"Carolina yelled as she made it to the Pelican.

The Pelican started rising, and just before it was out of his reach he jumped for the ledge. His hands were caught by Carolina and proceeded to be pulled up by her. Don looked out towards the former F.O.B., Covenant started ransacking the base, and any one left behind was soon killed. The hanger doors closed, there was nothing left.

 **At U.N.S.C. Freedom of Change**

"They won't be happy about our detour."Carolina said.

"Ah well O.N.I. can suck a dick, we deserve it."Epsilon said.

"Did you at least tell them we'll be late?"Carolina asked.

"Yeah they got the mail."Epsilon said.

"Good, I'll-"She turned around, it was Don.

"Hey, didn't get to say thank you…for, saving my ass really."

"Couldn't have let you died could I? Besides, you had the DSD; it was more than enough reason to rescue you."

"I guess, but…"

"You wish your squad was here as well."Carolina finished for him.

"It was a shit mission to begin with. One squad? That was just asking to be derailed."

"At least you completed the mission."

"Fuck the mission, what's it good for if good people have to die?"

"Look, Don, not all of us are gonna make it out of this war. You just have to live with it."

He looked down, "You know what's funny? They put me up for a promotion, now I can be a 'Captain'."

"You earned it."

"I don't feel like I did."

"You never will."Carolina said.

She stood up and started to leave.

"Hey, by the way…my name isn't Don."

"What?"

"My name isn't Don."

"It isn't? Well, wanna share it with me?"

"My name is Jaune, Jaune Arc."

"Well Jaune, I'm Carolina."

"I hope to see you again, Spartan Carolina."

"Maybe one day Jaune, maybe one day."

 **Hope you enjoyed.**


	28. A Mothers Love

**So I finally had enough time to sit down and write another chapter in E.U., what I** **'** **m said about is that the cool new font I downloaded didn** **'** **t get processed into . I even got the Crewniverse font, which I do like a lot. Anyway that aside, with the new Rise of Iron expansion in Destiny, and looking up the lore such as the Books of Sorrow, the origin behind Bad Juju, the Eliksni/Fallen, and so much more, I** **'** **m compelled to make a story that can actively use the lore Bungie had in store for Destiny ever since launch. I got a lot of cool idea** **'** **s that I** **'** **d like to put out because 1. The Destiny page is lacking in good lore-faithful stories, and I** _ **really**_ **like Destiny. Anyway, let** **'** **s get into the story shall we?**

Expanded Universe

"So, nothing new today?"Leo asked.

"Nope,"Amethyst said with a pop.

"Well, I guess I'll just sleep for the night, see ya Amethyst,"Leo said.

"See ya!"Amethyst waved as she pulled out a bunch of food from the refrigerator and went to her room.

Leo took a shower and promptly changed into his sleeping clothes. Today was exhausting, paper work always was, but now was time for sleep and O.N.I. couldn't stop him from that. Leo entered his room and fell on his bed,

"Goodnight world,"Leo said.

His mind faded into the void of his mind…then, he felt something. He opened his eyes. All around him was a pink sky with pink grass. It stretched for as far as he could see. He got up and walked around, where was he?

"Wh-*GAH*!"He closed his mouth and held back as much oxygen he could.

There was no air for him to use, or rather, no oxygen.

' _I need to get out, now!_ 'He thought.

He pushed the ground trying to push his way out; eventually, he could see the darkness of his room and could breathe again. Leo looked up to see a mass of pink fur on him, and the muffled sounds of his voice.

"Leo, are you okay?"He could hear.

Leo felt one final tug before he was sent flying across the room.

"Leo, are you hurt!?"He felt his body turned up-straight by none other than Pearl.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Leo, why is Lion sleeping on you?"She asked as Lion walked nearby.

"Beats me, I went to sleep and now he's on my face,"Leo said as Lion pulled him further into his mane.

"By the way, what are you doing out? Did Garnet find something?"Leo asked.

"Oh me? I-ugh-I….I watch you sleep sometimes. And when I mean sometimes I mean a lot."Pearl said.

"Okay, time for the both of you to go, get outta here, shoo shoo!"Leo made Pearl and Lion leave his room.

"Some privacy would be nice,"Leo muttered.

Leo fell back onto his bed and went to sleep. Dreamscape was being more polite to him than reality.

Around him was a messy yet organized workshop full of chemistry, mathematics, and instruments that Leo didn't have enough time to name and place their use for.

"You might want to take in a deep breath."Leo turned around, it was Delta.

"Deep breath?"He questioned, that was before the world around him turned to darkness and suddenly brightened again.

Once again, he was in the pink world he imagined the first time he fell asleep. The wind blew the pink grass, yet it provided no oxygen.

' _This place again? Where am I? And why do I have a sense of déjà vu?_ 'Leo thought.

He tried to breathe again, he couldn't.

' _LION!_ 'He struggled against the ground again and pushed harder and harder to try and get out, eventually he did.

There he was again, on his bed with Lion on his face.

"Lion, that's enough, at this rate you're going to kill me!"Leo said.

Lion rolled on to his back, exposing his belly.

"No Lion, you're going outside, now."Leo pushed Lion out of his room and onto the front porch.

Before he could walk back in, Lion put his paws around Leo and pulled him back.

"Lion, no!"Leo said.

"Lion, I said-"Before he could finish, all he could see was pink.

He was in that pink world again, but…he wasn't dreaming, he was awake.

' _Am I…no~….I couldn't be._ ' Leo pulled away and to his surprise, he was out in the real world.

He looked at Lion, he looked at him back. He looked at his hand; the area around it glowed pink.

"I was inside your mane!?"Leo yelled at him.

"How could you fit all _that_ in just _this_!?"He motioned towards Lion's mane.

Lion said nothing.

"Alright, what do we have here?"Leo pushed into Lion's mane with his entire body.

He looked around, he had no idea what Lion wanted him to do in here, obviously it was so important that he needed to almost suffocate him to get him to realize it. Leo scanned the horizon for anything; he saw a small hill and made his way towards it. It wasn't that far, before he made though he put his head out to gain some air and went back in. The hill was small, no more than 10 feet tall from the surface. He couldn't see clearly what was up there but there was a lot.

' _What do we have here?_ 'Leo asked as he got to the top of the hill. It was a lone tree, made with shades of pink and leaves to accompany it. Crystal sprung from its base, a worn flag waved beside it, in the center it was a symbol…just like the one on Leo's shield. On the branches was a bubble with some kind of relic in it, he couldn't tell, it looked pyramidal and had an empty center, a large pink sword stuck to the ground, a chest with a lock on it laid right beside it, and a lab coat was hung on the tree branch.

Leo moved closer, he inspected the lab coat, on the right breast pocket, it said 'L. Church'.

' _Is this dad's?_ 'Leo questioned, the O.N.I. symbol was sewn onto the right shoulder.

He looked down, the chest was locked, but right behind it was a note. Leo picked it up; it read ' _When you've made your decision, open me._ '

'What does that mean?'Leo thought.

He looked down, there was a photo of his father, and…..Rose. There was purple finger on the bottom right (Amethyst), dad was talking to a laughing Rose. He looked so happy, they both did, and Leo stayed silent. There was one more thing he had yet to see, it was a small disc. It was old, like the kind humans would use back in the 24th century. He picked it up; it was in a plastic case it read ' _For Leo_ '. He picked it up and exited Lions mane. He didn't have anything to read this, but he did know who.

 **Cut**

Ruby was fast asleep, that was when her phone started going haywire. She groaned and picked up her phone, it was Leo.

"Leo, why are you calling me it's…"She looked at the time.

"…midnight."She finished.

"Do you still have that compact disc reader your dad had?"Leo asked, his voice sounded a little shaky.

"You okay Leo?"She asked.

"I'm fine, do you have it?"Leo asked.

"Um, sure, and can lend it to you tomorr-"

"No, I need to use it now."He said.

"Um, okay, do you want to-"

"I'm coming over; just have your door unlocked."The phone hung up.

Ruby sighed; she walked downstairs quietly to make sure her dad and Yang wouldn't wake up. When she got down and unlocked the door it was immediately pushed open by none other than Leo making Ruby jump.

"Jeez Leo, want to give me a heads up first?"Ruby asked.

"Yeah well, sorry, I just need to see something on this disc."Leo gestured toward the CD in his hand.

"What is it?"

"I don't know,"Leo said.

"Okay well, come on in, I'll let you use it _if_ I can watch too."

"Alright."He said.

"Wait really? I didn't think that would work."Ruby stopped.

They made it to the garage; in the back was an old TV with a CD reader connected to it.

"Dad was gonna hold on to this for a while longer, there's not many left, so when the time is right we were thinking about selling it, get some money from it,"Ruby said.

Leo turned on the TV and the disc reader. The tray popped out and accepted the mysterious disc Leo held, Ruby was now really curious as to what was so important on that disc she had to be woken up this late. She sat down on one of her lawn chairs and sat one down for Leo, he sat as well.

The screen went static for a moment, then it cleared up. The video showed the beach in front of Leo's house. Sitting cross-legged was a noticeably older man in a lab coat. A giggle was heard from whoever was holding the camera. The man turned around, confused.

"What are you doing with that?"He chuckled.

The holder cleared her throat, "Test 154, the subject seems to have figured out."She mocked the man's voice and giggled.

"Test 154!?"He exclaimed.

The screen went static again and it was now being held by another person because the two people on screen were now talking. One was the man; he had a full head of graying hair and a beard. The other was a massive woman, pink hair, fair skin, and a dress that could rival even the most beautiful of gowns.

"I was just joking!"The woman giggled.

"Months of work are on that camera, I'd really like it if it they weren't deleted."The man said.

"Oh calm down Leonard, you're too high strung."The woman smiled.

"I suppose, Rose."He crossed his arms.

"Don't worry, you'll do great."She gave another warm smile.

Static.

Ruby turned to Leo; his eyes were glued to the screen.

"Leo?"She got no response.

She turned back to the TV.

It had gone static and then came back to regular.

The man was looking out towards the sea, notepad in hand. The camera turned around to face the holder, the woman in the dress.

"Isn't it remarkable? This world is full of so many possibilities. Each living thing has an entirely unique experience. The sights they see, the sounds they hear. The lives they live are so complicated... a-and so simple. I can't wait for you to join them. Leo, we can't both exist. I'm going to become half of you. And I need you to know that every moment you love being yourself, that's me, loving you and loving being you. Because you're going to be something extraordinary. You're going to be a human being."She looked down, than back at the camera, with some sort of renewed feeling.

"Life won't be easy, there are things that you will do that will define you and everyone…everything around you. Everyone will look to you, for leadership, for compassion, for a beacon of hope. Please, take care of them, Leo."The TV went to static, it was over.

Ruby didn't realize it, she was tearing up. She knew what it was like, she could relate. She turned to Leo, he was….shaking. Leonard Quartz Church, was crying. Ruby got up and hugged him; closure was never easy she knew of that first hand. It went like this for minutes, and all she could do was being there for him.

 **Later**

Pearl stood in the living room, she was getting worried. Leo wasn't in bed when she checked on him the next morning. Lion was gone like he usually was so there was little help from him. She heard the door open, she looked up, it was Leo.

"Leo! Where were you?"Pearl asked.

"I'm tired, I'm going to bed."He responded as he went to his room.

She watched him walk by and close the door to his room. He had something in his hand but she couldn't determine what.

Pearl sighed, "Oh Rose, if only you could have talked to him."She turned and left for her room.

 **I like to think this was one of my finer chapters.**


	29. Leone

**I think we just need to just take a step back and just be alone** **…** **together**

Steven Universe

Was Leo ready? Yes, this is going to be a benchmark for him and how far he's come. Was he ready to fuse with Pearl? Not in the closest.

"Now look closely Leo, coordination is key. One must be committed in both body and mind."Pearl said.

"Yeah, sure."Leo said.

Leo stood beside the warp pad. Pearl had brought a speaker to play some music to help make the mood, while Garnet and Amethyst stood on the side, watching.

"You're not loose enough; you won't be able to dance like that."Pearl walked over and patted Leo's shoulders.

"Alright, loose, gotcha."Leo sighed.

"We'll start off small, a simple twirl and dip couldn't be that challenging?"Pearl asked rhetorically.

Pearl got ready, putting her hand on Leo's shoulder and the other grasping his hand. Leo in turn put his unoccupied hand on her hip.

' _It's a simple twirl and dip; nothing can go wrong, right?_ '

Leo raised both of their hands in the air and twirled Pearl, as instructed, and went for the dip. For a moment nothing happened….and it stayed that way. Leo sighed as he pulled Pearl up, it didn't work.

"Don't feel discouraged Leo, it takes a lot to fuse."Pearl said nervously, she was lying.

"Yeah! You gotta try another time, than you won't suck at it!"Amethyst said.

"Amethyst!"Pearl chided.

"Leo."Garnet called as Pearl and Amethyst started to get into an argument.

"Pearl is right; don't feel discouraged, it will come to you eventually. To some, it comes naturally; to others it takes more practice. You'll get it eventually, trust me."

"Thanks Garnet."Leo said.

She nodded; Leo went back to Pearl, as she finally stopped her argument with Amethyst.

"Alright Leo, ready for trial number 20?"Pearl asked.

Just as Leo was about to say yes, his Comm. Pad rang. The caller I.D. pinged it as Connie.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Me and Connie are heading to one of Sourcream's raves; I gotta call a rain check."Leo said.

"Alright, we'll continue this tomorrow, have fun."Pearl said as Leo exit through the door.

Outside was Connie, she stood waiting for him.

"Sorry, I got caught up in something. The Gems are trying to teach me to fuse."Leo said.

"Fuse? Like what Amethyst and Garnet did to create Sugilite?"Connie asked.

"Yep, since I'm still half-Gemchurian I _should_ be able to do it, should being the big if."Leo said.

"Well, I think it's kinda beautiful. The way they dance, how they move, it's really amazing."Connie said.

"Eh, it's just dancing, nothing too great about it. Pearl does it all the time when she's in a good mood, sings too."Leo said.

"Yeah, you can dance, but…"Connie stopped.

"What?"

"I can't dance. It's stupid I know."

"It's not stupid."

"I mean, not only can I not dance, I get shy when I try and do it in front of a lot of people."She admitted.

"Well, no one's looking right now."Connie looked up to see Leo covering up his eyes.

"Are you sure? Sour Creams rave-?"Connie was interrupted.

"Ah who cares?"Leo put his arms down and smiled.

Leo pulled his Comm. Pad out and put on some music.

"Starboy, really?"Connie asked.

"Oh come on, you gotta admit it fits well with me."Leo said as he started dancing.

"Okay, I will admit, it does."Connie laughed as she started dancing as well.

Connie's dancing could be described as abrupt and rough. She moved in single movements that were sudden and switched without transition. When she looked at Leo, she couldn't believe it. Connie would describe Leo's dancing as beautiful, smooth, and seamless. He performed as if it wasn't a problem. He used all parts of his body to help his rhythm. She tried to mimic, try and be as good as that, or something that could in the least be recognized as a poorer version of the original. Leo opened his eyes and laughed.

"What are you doing?"Leo asked.

"Trying to dance."Connie answered.

"You look awkward."

"Well how else am I supposed to dance?"

"It's easy, dance like you."Leo moved closer to her.

"I dance like this because it feels like me."

"So you intentionally move your hips around a lot?"Connie suppressed a laugh.

"Yeah, why?"Leo asked.

"You dance like a girl sometimes!"Connie laughed.

"Hey, dancing is very gender-neutral, don't make fun of me!"Leo laughed.

Connie was laughing too hard she didn't notice her and Leo's hands holding each other as they tried to dance together. Somehow they got into the same rhythm, a successful blend between Leo's smooth and seamless waves and Connie's abrupt and rough hits. They laughed and laughed, ending off their dance twirling each other in a circle…before a bright light encased them both.

Opening their eyes was…rough. Something felt…off, while similar at the same time.

"What, where? Are these my-Leo's…wait what…"The body groaned.

Getting up was rough, something felt very off.

"What is happening to me...us? What?"The body went to the water and was taken aback.

"Who!? What?! Wait, is that us?"Tentative hands reached up to the face, all but confirming.

"No way, I fused!"The body exclaimed.

"Wait, fused!? Like, Sugilite fused!?"

"Hold on, we have to talk to Pearl!"

Pearl was…shocked, to say the least.

"You two fused!?"She shrieked as the new body now confirmed as Leo and Connie's fusion cam through the door.

"I know awesome right!? It feels great!"

"You two should unfuse now, who knows what this could do to you two, much less how inappropriate it is."Pearl said as she examined the new fusion.

They had on shorts with cloth leggings (probably due to Leo's jeans before he left), a cyan light jacket, with a pink shirt underneath.

"Pearl, weren't you the one who encouraged Leo to try and fuse, isn't this what you wanted?"The new fusion asked.

"I know but-"

"Pearl, look at Garnet!"Amethyst pointed to their stoic leader, who had her hands together with a grin wider than she'd ever seen.

"Well, if you're going to stay like that, you need a name."

"Oo, oo, lemme choose!"Amethyst ran up to the fusion.

"Amethyst-"Pearl started.

"No, its okay Pearl, whatcha got in mind Amethyst?"

"I'm thinking….Leone!"

"Leone, I like that, thanks Amethyst."The newly christened Leone gave Amethyst a bear hug.

"Leone, listen to me. You're not two people, and you are not one person. You, are an experience, and make sure it's a good one, now go have fun."Garnet said.

"You got it Garnet!"Leone smiled and ran out the door in excitement.

"You sure this was a good idea Garnet?"Pearl asked as Leone exited the house.

"The most important part of a fusion is to be able to rely on each other."She said.

"If you say so, you know best."Pearl said as she returned to the dishes.

Running through the sand barefooted felt...amazing, the wind through their hair felt amazing, everything felt amazing! Being fused felt…Leo's scientific mind had to be pushed to the forefront to examine fusion better. Hi-Their, senses were heightened, they felt stronger, able to perceive faster and more in general. Leone stopped in front of the Big Donut, they didn't feel hungry and they needed to get to Sour Cream's rave.

"Whoa."Leone said as she found the rave.

The room was filled with the kind of light that made whites stand out, Connie didn't know what it was called but she liked it. There were tons of people dancing to the song (?) Sour Cream was blasting through his speakers. The floor was crowded, hardly any room was left. Everything was chaotic in Leo's standards.

"Well, I'll give it to Sour Cream; at least he got people dancing. Not the best rave I've seen though."Leone stopped herself.

"Wait, you've been to a rave before?"Connie's half asked.

"No, it's time to have fun."Leone shook their head.

Dancing was great, a good song and a drink or two (not alcoholic to Connie's pleasure) was enough to get them in the mood to start shaking. Leone distinguished themselves from other dancers; it was so effortless, so natural.

' _This is how Leo must feel when he dances_.' Connie's part of Leone thought.

Everything went smoothly, until Leone was stopped.

"So, what's your name?"Leone's twirling was stopped as they came face-to-face with an unknown.

"Excuse me?"Leone looked at the newcomer closely.

He had a bob haircut; a neon scarf, a brown and orange jacket, and the ever so suave manor of a young party goer.

"You're name, you do have one right?"He danced around them, that cocky smile still on display.

"I-I don't know you."Leone said, but the words felt like they were being forced through her throat to even speak.

"Okay baby, I get it, introductions are in order. Names Kevin, now, what about you?"Kevin inched ever so closer Leone.

"I don't feel comfortable right now, I just need-"Leone couldn't help but feel a cold sweat envelop them.

"Oh come on, you can't spare me a dance baby?"

Leone backed up to a wall, everything felt smaller, like everything was closing in on them. Their heart was beating faster than they could count, everything was…wrong.

"I-I need to go."Leone said.

"C'mon baby, come join me, us perfect people need to stick together."He got closer.

"No-no-I don't-"Leone didn't know what to do; they'd never been in this situation before.

"You just haven't had enough fun yet, let me show you how."Kevin said as he got closer again.

Leone was panicking, not thinking straight, things started happening around them, what they could do!? Then, a moment of clarity, a moment of knowing what to do, and how to do it. They didn't need to take this, they were a fusion! They were better than him!

"Stop."Leone said.

"Baby, you don't-EEE!"He squealed as he cringed.

Leone was pissed, very pissed. Leo found that a good way to persuade a man was to grab their pride; he had to thank Yang for that tip. Leone squeezed harder, Kevin squealed louder.

"Listen here, I'm not your _baby_ , and if I catch you doing this to some other poor girl around here I will personally hunt you down. Am I clear?"Leone asked.

"Yes!"

"Yes what!?"Leone squeezed again.

"Yes ma'am! Yes ma'am!"Kevin sang.

"Good, no run off before I change my mind."Leone let go and pushed Kevin towards the exit.

No stared, everyone was too preoccupied with their own business to notice. Leone took a deep breath in, and out. They walked out, Kevin was out of sight, and a flash of light cued that Leone fell apart, leaving only Leo and Connie. They groaned and looked up at each other.

"Are you okay?"Connie asked.

"I should be asking you that, I'm sorry-"

"No, no, don't be. Some people are jerks; it's just a fact of life."Connie got up.

"Still, we kinda freaked out there for a moment."

"Yeah, but it was worth it. The way he squealed was so funny."Connie popped a smile.

"Yeah? You should see Yang, when she does it the guys face is pure gold."Leo said.

"Oh really?"Connie laughed.

"Totally, in fact, I should introduce you to the rest of my friends, you'd like them. C'mon, lemme walk you home."Leo said.

"My, what a gentleman."Connie said.

"Oh, you know me."Leo waved to Connie to catch up with him, and they walked off.

 **Writing for Leone was actually difficult at first, but now that we've got things settled I think we're good. Any hope you enjoyed.**


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